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An Argo AI car performing a driverless check journey in Austin, TX. | Supply: Argo AI
Argo AI, the self-driving firm beforehand backed by Ford and VW, is closing down, in accordance with experiences from TechCrunch and confirmed by The Robotic Report.
An Argo AI spokesperson gave this assertion from the corporate to The Robotic Report, “In coordination with our shareholders, the choice has been made that Argo AI is not going to proceed on its mission as an organization. Most of the workers will obtain a chance to proceed work on automated driving know-how with both Ford or Volkswagen, whereas employment for others will sadly come to an finish.”
Argo AI’s founders, CEO Bryan Salesky and President Peter Rander instructed its estimated 2,000 workers Wednesday throughout an all-company assembly that Ford and VW could be absorbing components of the corporate, and that some workers would obtain provides from the 2 corporations. Different workers had been instructed they’d obtain severance packages that would come with insurance coverage and two separate bonuses, an annual award and a transaction bonus when the cope with Ford and VW closes, in accordance with reporting from TechCrunch.
Salesky and Rander mentioned in a press release, “We’re extremely grateful for the dedication of the Argo AI staff, and so happy with our achievements collectively. The staff constantly delivered above and past, and we count on to see success for everybody in no matter comes subsequent, together with the alternatives offered by Ford and VW to proceed their work on automated driving know-how.”
Ford and VW introduced at this time of their respective third-quarter earnings calls that the businesses could be ending their investments within the self-driving firm.
Regardless of a spherical of layoffs earlier this yr in Argo AI’s Washington D.C. operation, the corporate had just lately expanded its robotaxi providers by beginning operations in Austin, Texas. It even had plans for a bigger industrial deployment in Las Vegas in 2023.
Salesky and Rander based Argo AI in 2016 as a spin-out from Carnegie Mellon College and got here out of stealth in 2017 with a $1 billion funding from Ford. Since then, it has raised one other $2.6 billion, primarily from Ford and VW, and secured partnerships with Walmart and Lyft.
