Ford Motor Co. F -2.89% is carving out its autonomous-vehicle program into a separate wholly owned company, a bid to accelerate its driverless-car efforts by attracting outside investors.

Ford said Tuesday that the newly formed unit, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, will be structured to take on third-party investment. The setup will allow large investors to bet on a part of Ford’s business that has high growth potential but likely will be a financial drain in the near term, without taking a stake in the slower-growth business of making traditional cars.
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