The co-founders of Strip District-based autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI LLC are looking to launch another company in the self-driving industry following Argo's shuttering last fall, and they're planning to base that venture here in Pittsburgh.
Bryan Salesky, past CEO of Argo, and Peter Rander, past president, have already hired about 50 employees, some of whom are Pittsburgh-based, and the yet-to-be-unveiled autonomous vehicle company has reportedly secured funding from an investor, according to a published report and confirmed by a source familiar with what they have planned. Salesky and Rander could not be reached for comment as of the publication of this article.
"It's not a rebirth. It's not a rebound. This is part of the evolution," said Tommy Johnson, a managing partner at Allegheny Strategy Partners who is familiar with the plans following his extensive experience in the local AV industry. "The future of auto will happen here; Bryan is one of those entrepreneurs who is dedicated to Pittsburgh."
While the names of the startup and investor remain unknown for now, Johnson said one of the main focuses of the new company will be the commercialization of autonomous driving solutions for the trucking industry and that its main investor is not an automaker. Those claims are also backed by reporting in Bloomberg, which cited unnamed sources familiar with these plans, though that report also noted that the startup could focus on ride-hailing AV applications as well just like Argo.
But the pivot to trucking-based autonomy tech and the lack of an automaker serving as a main investor marks two major differences from Argo, whose biggest investors — Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG — looked to use the company's self-driving tech exclusively on passenger vehicles. The automakers ultimately lost patience with Argo's commercialization timeline and declared they'd no longer provide funding for the startup, opting instead to develop lower-tier autonomy solutions in-house. That ultimately led to Ford's announcement last week of the launch of a subsidiary called Latitude AI, which is taking over Argo's former footprint in the Strip District following the onboarding of about 550 former Argo employees who will look to develop the next generation of Ford's advanced driver-assistance technology called BlueCruise.
"Bryan is certainly smart enough and is building a business case that he's going to bring global money to the city and region and make this happen," Johnson said of the new venture. "There are people who have been brought on to this new entity; there are employment contracts both with local talent and national talent, so they're hiring. … I'd think there is a go-live date in the near term."
According to the Bloomberg report, Salesky and Rander have also brought on Brett Browning, Argo’s former chief technology officer, to join the startup.
The looming launch of this company comes as the overall AV sector has hit a major roadblock in recent months, partly due to broader economic trends affecting the tech sector more generally but also because investors are seeking faster-than-expected rollouts of these technology offerings that have been in development for over a decade.
Argo's shuttering served as the first major indicator of this but others have felt similar pressure in other ways. Last month, Lawrenceville-based AV trucking startup Locomation Inc. cut about 70% of its staff. Strip District-based AV firm Aurora Innovation Inc. has seen its stock plummet by more than 87% since its IPO on Nov. 4, 2021, where shares opened at $11.25 a piece. Shares are currently trading at $1.44 each.
