PITTSBURGH—In the auto industry’s war for tech talent, Ford Motor Co. made an unusual $1 billion bet last year to fund an artificial-intelligence company in Pittsburgh with fewer than a dozen employees.

The aim was to build expertise in automated driving by offering job recruits a potentially lucrative perk that Dearborn, Mich., car maker couldn’t otherwise provide: an equity stake for new hires in a fast-growing startup.

The...