German automaker Volkswagen has closed its $2.6 billion investment in Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based self-driving startup.
Argo, founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander, is now jointly controlled by Ford Motor, which made an initial investment in Argo shortly after it was founded, and Volkswagen.
Details of the Volkswagen investment, which does not include an agreement to purchase $500 million worth of Argo stock from Ford, were announced last July.
VW’s agreement includes the transfer to Argo of its Munich-based Autonomous Intelligent Driving unit, which boosts Argo’s employment to more than 1,000, according to Salesky.
Last week, Volkswagen disclosed that its supervisory board had approved several projects in a multibillion-dollar alliance with Ford that also was announced last July.
Ford created Ford Autonomous Vehicles in 2018, pledging to invest $4 billion until 2023 and sought outside investors to help share the spiraling cost of developing autonomous vehicles.