Autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI, which raised $2.6B+, is shutting down; sources say parts of the company and some employees would be absorbed by Ford and VW
Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup that burst on the scene in 2017 stacked with a $1 billion investment, is shutting down …
The shutdown unwinds that shared vehicle for Ford and Volkswagen. Rather than an independent startup serving both automakers, sources indicate that parts of Argo and some of its workforce will move inside its two principal backers.
First-order effects
Argo AI ceases operations despite having raised more than $2.6 billion, ending its role as the jointly backed autonomous-driving developer for Ford and Volkswagen.
Ford and Volkswagen are positioned to absorb selected Argo assets and employees, bringing portions of the work in-house rather than retaining the standalone company.
Second-order effects
Argo's planned per-mile commercial-vehicle business no longer has an independent operator behind it, leaving Ford and Volkswagen to determine how any retained technology fits their own vehicle strategies.
The Ford-VW autonomous-vehicle alliance loses its dedicated shared startup structure, making future collaboration depend on what each company elects to retain from Argo.
Third-order effects
The outcome points toward autonomous-driving development being concentrated within large automakers when a heavily funded independent lab cannot sustain its standalone model.
If Ford and Volkswagen retain separate pieces of Argo, shared R&D ventures may give way to automakers internalizing technology teams and assets after funding cycles end.
The trend: Autonomous-vehicle R&D is moving from separately capitalized startups toward automakers' internal organizations as costly shared ventures are wound down.
Maybe, just maybe, we should have public transport instead of trying to make cars navigate the insane shared spaces we have forced people to live in proximity to roads and cars at all times. https://twitter.com/...
1/ “Ford said in its third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday that it made a strategic decision to shift its resources to developing advanced driver assistance systems, and not autonomous vehicle technology that can be applied to robotaxis.” https://techcrunch.com/...
Whoa... self-driving darling ARGO AI is now a zero Getting dotcom vibes with the Google/FB/MSFT earnings and all these startup shutdowns batten down the hatches https://twitter.com/...
> Ford made the decision because “large-scale profitable commercialization of Level 4 advanced driver assistance systems will be further out than originally anticipated,” the company stated. https://twitter.com/...