Engineers from Detroit and Silicon Valley are like oil and water, right? So what happens when they come together to develop self-driving vehicles for the masses? How does that work?
Indeed, the idea of an artificial intelligence expert helping to shape sheet metal seems about as likely as a vehicle engineer specifying the number of teraflops for a general computing system. But as Ford and software partner Argo AI prepare the automaker's first autonomous vehicle for 2021 deployment, such collaborations are becoming commonplace.
In an interview with Automotive News, Argo CEO Bryan Salesky and Ford's chief program engineer for autonomous vehicle development, Chris Brewer, waxed enthusiastic about the cross-pollination of Argo's high-tech capabilities and Ford's vehicle development know-how.