Argo AI, an autonomous automobile startup backed by each Ford and Volkswagen, has laid off about 150 workers, as reported earlier by Bloomberg and The Wall Road Journal. The transfer is meant to offset a interval of fast progress, during which the corporate employed extra workers than wanted.
“With unbelievable progress and progress made in our mission to deploy driverless autos, we’re making prudent changes to our marketing strategy to greatest proceed on a path for achievement,” Argo AI mentioned in an emailed assertion obtained by Bloomberg. The Verge reached out to Argo AI with a request for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.
As famous by the WSJ, the layoffs make up about 6 p.c of the Pittsburgh-based firm’s 2,000-person group. Argo AI was based in 2016 by Bryan Salesky, the previous head of {hardware} growth for Google’s autonomous autos (AVs), and Peter Rander, who beforehand served as an engineering lead for Uber’s self-driving department. Ford injected $1 billion into the corporate in 2017, and Volkswagen adopted up with a $2.6 billion funding in 2020.
This funding has allowed the corporate to construct out its AV enterprise in a number of US cities in addition to abroad. Argo AI is presently within the technique of testing absolutely autonomous autos in Miami and Austin and plans on partnering with Lyft in each cities. It’s additionally teaming up with Walmart to deploy a driverless supply service in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C., and is working in direction of its objective of launching an automatic rideshare service with Volkswagen in Germany by 2025.