California Gives Ford's Argo AI Green Light to Test AVs

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based firm Ford pumped $1 billion into and handed responsibility for educating its self-driving vehicles, just received a go-ahead for testing in the State of California. The company gained a testing permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday, making its autonomous trials perfectly legal on public roads.

Ford’s current trajectory has its autonomous vehicles entering the commercial market by 2021. That’s two years after General Motors promised to do the same. However, recent events cast doubt over whether GM will be able to meet its self-imposed deadlines (some of which dictate future investments from its partners) and start mass production of computer-controlled cars by the end of this year. It’s not just GM that’s having trouble, either. A critical look into autonomous development shows many companies are struggling with advancing the technology to a point that would make it commercially viable.

The Blue Oval might be better positioned in the autonomous race than initially presumed.

That still doesn’t make it an industry leader, though. For the most part, the company is trusting Argo with R&D in Pittsburgh while Ford continues work at its home office in Dearborn, MI. It’s also mapping public roads in Washington, D.C and Miami while readying the next phase of testing. Unfortunately, the scope of these programs aren’t quite as broad as the competition’s.

Waymo had well over 600 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans operating on public roads by the middle of last year and started fielding modified Jaguar I-Pace crossovers over the summer. In May, Waymo announced a deal with Fiat Chrysler for an additional 62,000 minivans to help it transition from testing to a commercial venture. Meanwhile, Argo expects to have over 100 in its nationwide test fleet by the end of 2019.

While it’s unclear whether Argo’s Californian testing is directly related to Ford, it would be shocking to learn otherwise. The automaker invested $1 billion in Argo AI in February, 2017 — not long after the company’s founding by Bryan Salesky, a former member of Google’s self-driving car project, and Pete Rander, who did time with Uber. Since the partnership’s introduction, Ford has been Argo AI’s sole project.

[Images: Ford Motor Co.]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • EBFlex EBFlex on Jan 30, 2019

    Let the crashes begin

  • Salmonmigration Salmonmigration on Jan 30, 2019

    Just when autonomous car talk was starting to wind down here comes Ford! Always 3 years behind the ball. Good going Hackett.

    • EBFlex EBFlex on Jan 31, 2019

      Ford is light years ahead in the “buying a run down train station that’s going to cost hundreds of millions to fix” department.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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