Ford has recently announced its $1 million investment over the next five years in an artificial intelligence startup called Argo AI. Ford is aiming to release an autonomous vehicle in 2021 and investing on Argo AI to develop a virtual driver system is a step towards that goal. The Argo AI will make way for a no-hands vehicle in the future.

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"The next decade will be defined by the automation of the automobile, and autonomous vehicles will have as significant an impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields in a statement. "

As Ford expands to be an auto and a mobility company, we believe that investing in Argo AI will create significant value for our shareholders by strengthening Ford's leadership in bringing self-driving vehicles to market in the near term and by creating technology that could be licensed to others in the future."

The virtual driver system will be the brain of a self-driving vehicle. This technology will guide the car so it will not hit walls, crash into other cars or pedestrians. The software skills will depend on hardware components such as sensors and cameras which Ford will focus on. The car company has a team who will develop this software and collaborate with the robotics expertise and talent of Argo AI.

The $1 billion investment makes Ford a majority stakeholder in Argo AI. The rest of Argo AI will remain in the ownership of founders Peter Rander and Bryan Salesky. Other team members and engineers will be part owners as well.

"Autonomous vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, to extend personal mobility to many who might not have it, and to transform the landscape of an urban setting. On the safety front, the always-attentive capability of a self-driving vehicle can remove concerns over driver distraction," Salesky wrote.