GM Tech leadership shakeup continues on software team

General Motors’ software team has lost three top executives in the last month as the automaker takes over a new chief product officer and consolidates its disparate technology businesses into one organization.

Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software and services product management, will be leaving the company, effective December 12, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. CNBC first reported his departure.

Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering, and Barak Turovsky, who was hired in March as the automaker’s head of AI, also left last month. Cetinok and Richardson joined GM in 2023. All three had deep technology experience, having worked at various technology companies including Apple and Google.

The departure comes several months after GM hired Sterling Anderson to the newly created position of chief product officer. In his role, Mr. Anderson has direct contact with and management of nearly all vehicle development-related departments at GM.

Anderson, a veteran of the self-driving vehicle industry, reports directly to GM President Mark Reuss and leads product management teams in vehicle and manufacturing engineering, batteries, software and services. The purpose of this position is to oversee the entire lifecycle of GM’s portfolio, including hardware, software, services, and user experience.

The departure is part of a reorganization within GM aimed at eliminating silos within the business and better integrating how software is developed and deployed in the company’s cars, trucks and SUVs. Instead of separate teams with overlapping roles, the company plans to combine hardware and software engineering, AI capabilities and global products into one organization, according to a series of statements about each executive’s departure.

Anderson is rebuilding the organization while also bringing in new talent. Cristian Mori, who has spent the past five years at Symbiotic, Rivian, and Boston Dynamics, has been hired to lead the robotics division in a new role. GM has a team of manufacturing engineers who develop automation and robotics, but until now there was no specific role for head of robotics that would fall under Anderson’s organization.

In October, GM hired Behrad Toghi, who previously worked at Apple, as head of AI. The company also hired Rashed Haq as vice president of autonomous vehicles. Haq spent five years as head of AI and robotics at Cruise, a self-driving car company that was acquired by GM and later shut down.