This driverless startup has one mission: Save the future of Ford

Bryan Salesky, chief executive officer of Argo AI, stands for a photograph next to modified Ford Motor Co. Fusion autonomous vehicle parked in a garage at the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. The investment in Argo AI, a self-driving startup, is Ford's way of trying to catch up to Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo and General Motors Co. in the driverless derby. Ford took a majority stake in Argo last year and expects to deploy autonomous vehicles running its system in a money-making business by 2021. Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg

Bryan Salesky has been entrusted with US$1bil (RM4.14bil) by Ford Motor Co and given a mission to bring the pioneering American automaker into the age of driving robots. 

All that money to figure out tomorrow from a company feeling more than a little insecure about its present comes with an unavoidable psychic weight. It becomes top of mind when Salesky looks down at the floor.