Volkswagen, Ford sign deal for self-driving technology

Volkswagen has finalized a deal that will see it invest the equivalent of $2.6 billion in Argo AI as part of a partnership with Ford to develop self-driving technology.

Ford, in a posting by executive John Lawler, said the arrangement finalized Monday involving the Pittsburgh-based startup would allow the Dearborn automaker to share the cost of self-driving technology development with Germany’s VW.

“We’ve committed to spending more than $4 billion through 2023 on the development of our self-driving service. A large part of this investment is dedicated to developing the self-driving system. With Volkswagen’s investment in Argo AI, we will now share the cost of developing Argo AI’s technology,” said Lawler, CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles and vice president of Ford’s Mobility Partnerships.

Lawler’s posting said sharing the costs won’t reduce Ford’s spending in the selfdriving space but would allow it to reallocate money “toward our unique customer experience including transportation as a service, software development and fleet operations.”

Ford and VW made their initial announcement of the plan last July.

The deal brings VW’s Munich-based selfdriving division into the Argo AI fold, upping its employment total to 1,000 people worldwide, according to a blog post on Argo AI’s website. Munich becomes the company’s fifth engineering centre, adding to operations in Pittsburgh, the Detroit area, Palo Alto and Cranbury, New Jersey. The company said it has fleet operations in Miami, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.

Dan Pierce, a spokesman for Ford Autonomous Vehicles, said the $2.6 billion VW investment breaks down as $1 billion in funding plus a $1.6 billion estimate for the value of the Munich-based self-driving division.