GM Appoints Former Apple Executives to Lead Software and Services Division

TapTechNews June 5th, General Motors announced on Monday that it has appointed former Apple executives Baris Cetinok and Dave Richardson to lead the software and services division, officially replacing Mike Abbott who left due to health reasons in March. It's worth noting that Apple quietly cancelled its years-long self-driving car project, 'Project Titan', earlier this year.

Cetinok will serve as senior vice president of product management, project management, and design for GM's software and services division, while Richardson will expand his existing responsibilities and become senior vice president of engineering for the software and services division.

Cetinok has held product, engineering, and design positions at companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, and led the releases of core Apple products such as Apple Pay, Apple Cash, and Apple Card, as well as the development of services such as iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, and Find My Device. He worked at Apple for 9 years and then held executive positions at companies such as Robinhood and FalconX.

Richardson worked at Apple for 12 years and ultimately became the director of engineering for Apple's cloud infrastructure. He played an important role in the infrastructure systems for developing services such as iCloud products, FaceTime, iMessage, and Siri.

TapTechNews observes that GM's appointment comes at a time when it is restarting its Cruise self-driving ride-hailing testing project. Last October, one of the company's self-driving cars hit a pedestrian, resulting in the revocation of its self-driving vehicle operating license. Restarting the Cruise project is one of GM's main goals for this year.