Ford Motor Co. posted an $827 million loss in the third quarter, dragged down by costs associated with the shutdown of a self-driving vehicle technology company the Blue Oval backed as a major investor.
In confirming the decision to shut down Pennsylvania-based Argo AI, founded by two Michigan natives in 2017 with a $1 billion investment from the Dearborn automaker, Ford executives acknowledged the challenges of developing Level 4 fully self-driving advanced driver assistance systems with human observations — and said doing so is likely to take at least five more years and would have required billions of dollars more in investment in Argo.
The automaker initially said it expected to bring Level 4 ADAS technology to market by 2021. “But things have changed, and there's a huge opportunity right now for Ford to give time — the most valuable commodity in modern life — back to millions of customers while they’re in their vehicles,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “It’s mission-critical for Ford to develop great and differentiated L2+ and L3 applications that at the same time make transportation even safer."
