Self-Driving Car Company Announces World Headquarters In Strip District

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STRIP DISTRICT (KDKA) -- There are new self-driving cars cruising city streets, and soon the company developing them will be building a new world headquarters in the Strip District.

"This is sort of a dream come true, what will be here," Argo AI CEO Bryan Salesky said. "This will be our future home. We're pretty excited about it."

The brainchild of two Carnegie Mellon graduates, Argo AI already has $1 billion investment from the Ford Motor Company to develop the sensors, computers and software for their future autonomous cars.

And even though Salesky and COO Dr. Pete Rander could have headquartered the company anywhere, they chose Pittsburgh.

"I've always wanted to do something here in Pittsburgh and do something big," Salesky said, "and when we had the opportunity to start Argo and we had the opportunity do it in Pittsburgh and keep talent in the area, it was something we always talked about it and it was really cool to find a way to do it."

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Argo will soon be employing 200 computer scientists and software engineers, and CMU and Pitt will be supplying them.

"The ability to do that here and to keep the talent here and for them to stay in the region and continue to develop the region, that's what's important to me," Salesky said.

Helping Pittsburgh take the lead in driverless technology.

"Because of the innovation, the workforce, the talent, the affordability and the ability make things happen and to get things done," Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said.