While the extent of the deal is surprising, it makes sense for Ford, especially after GM acquired the self-driving car startup Cruise for over $1 billion last year. As we've seen with the steady progress from Google's Waymo, autonomous driving technology is evolving quickly. Car companies have to make some big moves now if they don't want to get left behind once the technology becomes essential in a few years.

Ford will combine the team building its virtual driver system, which serves as the "brains" of the self-driving cars, together with Argo AI. Both companies will benefit from the new arrangement: Ford doesn't have time to waste building its own AI platform from scratch, and Argo will need help getting its technology to consumers once it's ready.