The co-founders of Argo AI LLC announced the launch of a new autonomous vehicle firm based in Pittsburgh that secured financial backing from one of the world's leading startup investors.
Stack AV, a firm with 150 employees led by CEO Bryan Salesky, President Peter Rander and Chief Technology Officer Brett Browning, has landed Japanese multinational investment holding firm SoftBank Group Corp. as its largest investor. The startup did not disclose the size of the investment from SoftBank, though sources familiar with Stack's formation have claimed that the funding reaches hundreds of millions of dollars.
Established as an autonomous trucking business, Stack will look to address challenges relating to safety and supply chain obstacles that affect the road-based transportation and logistics industry, among other hurdles relating to efficiencies, driver shortages and vehicle uptimes.
"As consumer consumption patterns evolve, businesses increasingly need AI-driven, intelligent, and reliable supply chains," Salesky said in a prepared statement. "With our proprietary technology and expertise as well as the commitment from our long-term partner in SoftBank, we are confident we will revolutionize the trucking and freight industries by driving improvements in efficiency and safety and alleviating supply chain constraints for our customers, helping them reach their goals and advance their missions."
Added Rander in a statement: "We could not be more thrilled to unveil our autonomous trucking business to the world. As global commerce continues to become increasingly interconnected, now more than ever businesses have a dire need for more reliable and efficient supply chains, especially in the trucking and freight industries."
Stack's focus on AV solutions for trucks and its financial backing from a multinational investment firm mark two of the largest differences between it and the ill-fated Argo, which shuttered its passenger vehicle-focused AV developments in October 2022 after its two largest investors, automakers Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG, announced they'd no longer fund the venture and would pursue AV developments in house. Ford has since launched a subsidiary company based in Argo's former Strip District headquarters called Latitude AI that's looking to drive much of that work.
Stack is likely to take about 70,000 square feet of office space at the Vision on Fifteenth in the Strip District, though no formal designation of the firm's headquarters has been announced other than noting it's in Pittsburgh. The company said its employee footprint spans 15 states.
