General Motors has promoted two former Apple executives to lead its software and services business as it ramps up efforts to develop and commercialize electric, autonomous and connected vehicles.
Baris Cetinok was named senior vice president of software and services product management. The company also named Dave Richardson senior vice president of software and services engineering. Both joined GM last September, the Detroit automaker said in a statement Monday.
The promotions come as GM tries to implement big plans to boost revenue from software and services and transition from internal combustion to battery-powered vehicles.
Cetinok will lead teams overseeing software products, while Richardson will lead all software engineering, including digital products and partially automated driving systems.
Cetinok has more than a quarter century of experience in products, engineering and design, including Microsoft, Amazon and Apple, GM’s statement said. He was senior director of product management at Apple, where he launched Apple Pay, Apple Card and iCloud services such as Photos.
Richardson spent 12 years at Apple, where he led engineering for services including iCloud, FaceTime and Siri, GM said.
Both will be part of GM’s senior leadership and report directly to CEO Mary Barra. They will be located at the company’s technical center in Mountain View, California.
GM has had trouble getting electric vehicles into mass production, and software has been a problem. The Cruise autonomous vehicle unit is trying to recover of an embarrassing crash in San Francisco and accusations that it tried to cover up the impact of dragging a pedestrian to the curb.
