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Ford And Volkswagen Partner On Autonomous And Electric Vehicles
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Volkswagen AG's website.
The chief executives of Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG announced they are expanding their global cooperation to include electric and self-driving vehicles. Volkswagen will invest about $2.6 billion in Argo AI, Ford Motor Co.'s autonomous vehicle platform company, in a deal that values the startup at more than $7 billion. Ford became the majority shareholder in Argo AI in early 2017, when it invested $1 billion. VW’s Autonomous Intelligent Driving unit, based in Munich, Germany, will become Argo's headquarters in Europe. Ford and Volkswagen will have an equal stake in Argo AI, and combined, will own a substantial majority of the PIttsburgh-based company. Argo AI’s self-driving system is the first with plans for commercial deployment in Europe and the U.S. The agreement also states that Ford will use Volkswagen’s industry-leading electric vehicle architecture and Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB) to design and build a fully electric, zero-emission vehicle in Europe for sale to European customers by 2023.
“While Ford and Volkswagen remain independent and fiercely competitive in the marketplace, teaming up and working with Argo AI on this important technology allows us to deliver unmatched capability, scale and geographic reach,” Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett said in a press release. “Unlocking the synergies across a range of areas allows us to showcase the power of our global alliance in this era of smart vehicles for a smart world.”
Read more about the Ford/Volkswagen collaboration on the Volkswagen AG website.
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