GM’s executive shake-up continues on its software team

GM’s software team has now lost three top executives in the past month, as the automaker — with a new chief product officer at the helm — consolidates its disparate technology businesses into a single organization.

Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software product management and services, will leave the company effective December 12, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. CNBC was it First to report Departure.

Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software engineering and services, and Barak Turovsky, who was hired in March as head of the automaker’s artificial intelligence division, also left last month. Cetinuk and Richardson joined GM in 2023. All three had deep technical experience at a variety of technology companies including Apple and Google.

The departure comes several months ago GM hired Sterling Anderson to the newly created position of Chief Product Officer. Anderson’s role brings him into direct contact with and management of nearly every division at GM.

Anderson, an autonomous vehicle industry veteran who reports to GM President Mark Reuss, leads the vehicle engineering, manufacturing, battery, software and services product management teams. The goal of this position is to oversee the full lifecycle of GM’s portfolio including hardware, software, services and user experience.

The departures are part of a restructuring within GM that is supposed to remove silos within the company and better integrate how software is developed and deployed in the company’s cars, trucks and SUVs. Instead of separate teams, each with overlapping roles, the plan is to consolidate hardware and software engineering, AI capabilities, and global products into a single organization, according to a series of statements covering each executive’s departure.

As Anderson reshapes the organization, he is also bringing in new talent. Christian Maury, who has worked at Symbiotic, Rivian and Boston Dynamics for the past five years, has been appointed to a new role to head robotics. While GM has a team of manufacturing engineers who develop automation and robotics, there has never been a major role defined for robotics, which would fall under Anderson’s organization.

GM hired Behrad Toghi, who previously worked at Apple, in October as AI leader. The company also appointed Rashid Haq as its vice president for autonomous vehicles. Haq spent five years at Cruise, the self-driving car company that General Motors acquired and later closed, as head of its artificial intelligence and robotics division.