The founders of the former self-driving unit of Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG are launching a new autonomous trucking startup with backing said to be more than $1 billion from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.
The new firm, named Stack AV, is led by Bryan Salesky, Pete Rander and Brett Browning, who previously ran Argo AI, the self-driving operation that Ford and VW shut down last year. Based in Pittsburgh, also home to Argo, Stack AV has hired 150 people and already has a test fleet of trucks on the road, Salesky said in an interview.
While Salesky and SoftBank declined to detail the investment in Stack, Matt Smith, an economic development official in Pittsburgh, said he expects the commitment to be “north of $1 billion,” adding to a growing tech corridor in the city known as Robotics Row.
The Stack AV founders connected with SoftBank early this year and Salesky said the Japanese investment tech conglomerate, which says it manages more than $160 billion in assets involved in artificial intelligence, agreed to provide “patient capital” to see the startup through to commercializing its autonomous trucking technology.
“SoftBank knows how to scale a global, real-world business,” Salesky said. “That backing is hugely helpful in an effort like this where you’ve got to be in it for the long term.”
Ford and VW grew impatient with Argo after investing a combined $3.6 billion in the startup and closed it last year as sentiment was souring on self-driving technology. A Ford executive at the time said it is easier to put a man on the moon than a full self-driving car on the road. SoftBank also exited its investment in AV firm Cruise LLC last year, selling its stake for $2.1 billion to the startup’s parent, General Motors Co.