Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Volkswagen AG (OTCMKTS: VLKAF) have over the years offered their support to the autonomous driving startup called Argo AI, and their efforts seem to be paying off quite well. Reports indicate that the startup is already developing VW modified electric vans to provide commercial robotaxi services in Germany. The European transport service MOIA will be the one running most of the operations.
The test
The IAA Motor and Mobility Show in Munich will take place soon. This show will provide an ideal platform for testing the BUZZ vans in the test fleet lineup. Volkswagen intends to use the R&D facilities in testing the battery-powered vehicles. It reveals how the vehicles are fitted with Argo’s laser lidar sensors, AI-enabled software, cameras, and radar. It will also use the Argo test track near Munich.
The two hope to achieve quite a lot over the next four years. For example, they hope to start serving passengers through MOIA’s ride-sharing platform. The platform in question is in Hamburg.
Salesky speaks out
The founder and CEO of Argo Bryan Salesky opines, “Building on our five years of development and lessons learned from our operations in large and complex cities across the United States, we are excited to begin testing the streets of Munich soon for the launch of the commercial ride-sharing service. stand-alone with MOIA. ”
Salesky discloses Argo’s plan to boost its funding, outlining that one of the ways will be through a stock market listing. He applauds the startup for its tremendous success over the years, part of that being topping the list of the best-funded self-driving companies. For example, it managed to get $ 2.6 billion from Volkswagen and Ford.
MOIA has also achieved massive growth, and it currently sticks out as the biggest MOIA across Europe. Analysts project Hamburg will become the first city to serve customers with an autonomous carpooling service that guarantees them identity documents.
