Ford Motor has announced the acquisition of a robotics start-up which is expected to propel its goal of putting driverless cars on the road by 2021.

The firm purchased Argo AI for $1 billion from Carnegie Mellon alums Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander. The two have worked individually with Google and Uber for their respective autonomous vehicle projects.

According to a Canadian Press report, the acquisition is aimed at rallying the robotics talent of the two founders behind Ford’s goal of building a car that doesn’t have a brake pedal or steering wheel by 2021.

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“When talent like that comes up, you don’t ignore that ability,” Raj Nair told the wire service in its report. Nair doubles as Ford’s chief technical officer and product development head.

Salesky said Argo is expected to scale up to 200 workers by yearend and will each have stock options as part of their compensation package.

Under the agreement, Argo will design the driverless system exclusively for Ford but will have the option to license its technology to other car makers in the future, Canadian Press reported.


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