{"id":103283,"date":"2016-01-29T14:21:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T19:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=103283"},"modified":"2016-01-29T14:21:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T19:21:07","slug":"gm-creates-specialized-autonomous-vehicle-ev-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2016\/01\/gm-creates-specialized-autonomous-vehicle-ev-team\/","title":{"rendered":"GM Creates Specialized Autonomous Vehicle, EV Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_103301\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-103301\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/doug-parks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-103301\" title=\"Chevrolet Volt Global Vehicle Line Executive Doug Parks\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/doug-parks-300x232.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-103301\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GM tabbed Doug Parks to head up its new team focused on autonomous and battery-electric vehicles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>General Motors is realigning critical areas of its business to create, effective Feb. 1, a dedicated Autonomous and Technology Vehicle Development Team.<\/p>\n<p>GM said in an internal announcement the combined team will focus on accelerating the company\u2019s technical capabilities and create the future direction of GM vehicle programs in the autonomous and technologically advanced vehicle space.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_43245\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43245\" style=\"width: 152px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/subscribe\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43245\" title=\"Subscribe 22\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Subscribe-22.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"152\" height=\"91\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Subscribe-22.jpg 152w, https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Subscribe-22-150x91.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 152px) 100vw, 152px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-43245\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Subscribe Now!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Doug Parks, who had been Vice President, Global Product Programs, is leading the new effort as Vice President, Autonomous Technology and Vehicle Execution. According to GM, the group is responsible for \u201ccreating and executing autonomously driven vehicles in addition to advanced technology vehicle programs, including hybrids, battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cParks and his team will be the single point accountable for all critical technologies and total vehicle solutions in the areas of electrical architecture, controls and software, system and safety integration, development and validation, sourcing and execution,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(FTC sanctions GM, two dealership groups over recall issues. For more,\u00a0<\/em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"\/2016\/01\/ftc-sanctions-gm-dealer-groups-over-recalls\/\">Click Here<\/a><\/span><em>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parks will report directly to Mark Reuss, GM vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain.\u00a0The focus on advanced vehicle technologies means additional responsibilities for other GM executives as well.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pam Fletcher, executive chief engineer, Global Electric Vehicles, will add the Autonomous Chevrolet Volt Campus Fleet to her responsibilities. She also will lead a team focused on strategic planning and competitive assessments within the autonomous and electric vehicle space.<\/li>\n<li>Sheri Hickok, chief engineer, Next Generation Light Duty Pick-Up, was appointed Executive Chief Engineer, Autonomous JVs and Fleet Execution. She will lead the execution teams of autonomous fleets and the strategy and development of related key partnerships and joint ventures.<\/li>\n<li>Andrew Farah, chief engineer, Global Electrified Vehicles, was promoted to Chief Technology Architect, Autonomous Systems. Farah will lead the technical activities of the teams empowered to create hardware, software and controls mechanisms which support autonomous vehicles.\u00a0 In addition, he will lead the Global Product Development teams focus on technologies required for autonomous vehicle operations.<\/li>\n<li>Scott Miller, director, Global C02 Strategy, Energy, Mass and Aerodynamics, was appointed Director, Autonomous Vehicle Integration.\u00a0He will be the technical director for Autonomous feature and controls integration, vehicle and feature validation, and vehicle development teams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>(<\/em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"\/2016\/01\/new-active-safety-tech-reducing-rear-end-crashes-by-as-much-as-40\/\">Click Here<\/a><\/span><em> for details about new active safety tech that may reduce rear-end crashes by 40%.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Expanding the group focusing on this level of autonomy and technology shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. GM has been pushing its technological prowess for the past several years. The latest effort is the company\u2019s introduction of the new Chevy Bolt.<\/p>\n<p>The EV may be the first viable, mainstream affordable vehicle built in high volumes. Expected to get 200 miles on a full charge, the Bolt is expected to cost $35,000 after government tax breaks. The vehicle mitigates two of the biggest problems EVs have faced: limited range and cost.<\/p>\n<p>The automaker is also making big moves on the personal mobility front that may be impacted by this new unit down the road. General Motors apparently hopes to become an industry maven when it comes to alternative mobility programs. After investing in two ride-sharing services, Lyft and Sidecar, this month, the Detroit automaker says it will start a new car-sharing company called Maven \u2013 a Yiddish word for \u201cexpert.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future,\u201d GM President Dan Ammann said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(To see more about the safety consortium between the feds and 18 automakers,\u00a0<\/em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"\/2016\/01\/feds-18-automakers-agree-to-form-broad-consortium-to-improve-auto-safety\/\">Click Here<\/a><\/span><em>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GM began the month by announcing a $500 million investment in Lyft, the chief rival to ride-sharing service Uber, then followed up with a partnership with Sidecar. The company is not saying how much it will spend to get Maven going, though it did say the car-sharing firm will have a staff of 40 employees who have been hired from the connected car field, as well as from Sidecar, Google and rival car-sharing service Zipcar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Motors is realigning critical areas of its business to create, effective Feb. 1, a dedicated Autonomous and Technology Vehicle Development Team. To find out more about the impact, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":103301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103283"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=103283"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=103283"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=103283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}