When Ford, the 105-year- old Detroit automaker, wanted a partner to develop driverless car technology to help it survive another century, it was far from clear it should look in Pittsburgh. Silicon Valley was a more obvious choice.
Rival General Motors had chosen to acquire Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based developer of autonomous vehicle technology. Ford, however, opted to invest up to $1bn over five years in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company founded and based in Pittsburgh.
Argo AI has engineering centres in Mountain View, California; Dearborn, Michigan (where Ford is based); and Cranbury, New Jersey, but 40 per cent of its employees are in Pittsburgh. Co-founder and chief executive Bryan Salesky has strong ties to the local community, and a deep emotional commitment to the city’s revival.