Autonomous car startup Argo AI lays off 150 employees

Argo AI, an free agent startup backed by both Ford and Volkswagen, has laid off about 150 employees, as appear beforehand by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. The move is declared to account a aeon of accelerated growth, in which the aggregation assassin added advisers than needed.

“With absurd advance and advance fabricated in our mission to arrange driverless vehicles, we are authoritative advisable adjustments to our business plan to best abide on a aisle for success,” Argo AI said in an emailed account acquired by Bloomberg. The Verge accomplished out to Argo AI with a appeal for animadversion but didn’t anon apprehend back.

As acclaimed by the WSJ, the layoffs accomplish up about 6 percent of the Pittsburgh-based company’s 2,000-person team. Argo AI was founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky, the above arch of accouterments development for Google’s free cartage (AVs), and Peter Rander, who ahead served as an engineering advance for Uber’s self-driving branch. Ford injected $1 billion into the aggregation in 2017, and Volkswagen followed up with a $2.6 billion advance in 2020.

This allotment has accustomed the aggregation to body out its AV business in several US cities as able-bodied as overseas. Argo AI is currently in the action of testing absolutely free cartage in Miami and Austin and affairs on partnering with Lyft in both cities. It’s additionally teaming up with Walmart to arrange a driverless commitment account in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C., and is alive appear its ambition of ablution an automatic rideshare account with Volkswagen in Germany by 2025.

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