Ford-backed autonomous car startup Argo AI lays off 150 employees

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A report by The Wall Street Journal said that about 150 employees were laid off from the startup. There was a period of rapid growth in which the company hired more employees than needed.

With incredible growth and progress made in our mission to deploy driverless vehicles, we are adjusting our business plan to best continue on a path for success. The Verge reached out to the company but didn't get a response.

6 percent of the company's 2,000-person team were laid off. The company was founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky, the former head of hardware development for the self-driving car team at Google, and Peter Rander, who was previously an engineering lead for the self-driving car team. Ford and Volkswagen both invested in the company in the last two years.

The company has been able to expand its business in several US cities as well as overseas. The company is currently in the process of testing fully self driving vehicles in Miami and Austin, and will be partnering with the ride sharing service. It is teaming up with Walmart to deploy a driverless delivery service in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C., as well as working towards its goal of launching an automated rideshare service with Volkswagen in Germany by the year 2025.