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FORTUNE.COM // JUNE.1.19
A BABY STROLLER ROLLS INTO
traffic. A blind corner hides a rush
of cars around the bend. The blaz-
ing, early evening sun outshines
a frantically blinking stoplight.
At its test-track facility in New
Stanton, Pa., Argo AI aims to
re-create real-world hazards to
get Ford’s autonomous vehicles
ready to hit the road—and dodge
its dangers—by 2021. That’s when
the automaker wants to launch
its ambitious autonomous ride-
hailing and delivery services in
select U.S. cities.
Argo is developing a self-driving
technology platform that’s being
engineered into cars produced by
Ford, which invested $1 billion in
2017 for a majority stake in the
private company.
Argo’s 20-acre closed course,
located in a semi-decommis-
sioned industrial plant where Sony
once built big-screen televisions,
is the ideal controlled environ-
ment for testing robotic vehicles.
And at the company’s depot in
nearby Pittsburgh, software gets
tweaked, and cars can even be
localized to match driving behav-
iors inherent to particular cities.
Ford’s Argo-powered autono-
mous cars are currently being
tested in five U.S. cities, including
on the paved-over colonial-era
horse paths around Pittsburgh’s
Carnegie Mellon University.
Researchers there are helping
the company refine its com-
puter vision and machine-learning
systems.
SKUNKWORKS
At the Pittsburgh-area
test track of Argo AI,
majority shareholder
Ford is running its
first self-driving cars
through their paces.
FORD
12
500 R ANK
