GM pushes toward high-tech future as Sterling Anderson leads next-gen product vision

General Motors (GM) is pushing toward a high-tech future as newly appointed product and technology chief Sterling Anderson lays out his next-generation vision.

Nearly six months into the role, GM noted that Anderson is already reshaping the company’s product strategy, from core vehicles to the software and services behind them.

For those unversed, Anderson left Aurora Innovation, the self-driving company he co-founded, to join GM earlier this year. 

Now serving as executive vice president and chief product officer, he oversees the “end-to-end product lifecycle,” including manufacturing engineering, battery development, software systems and advanced services.

His priority, he told CNBC in a recent interview, is to speed up innovation by separating software from hardware, a shift he believes will define GM’s future.

“My priority is to accelerate the pace of innovation. One of the ways we do that is with this disaggregation of, or this abstraction of, software from hardware,” he noted. 

Notably, GM’s recent restructuring, which led to the sudden departures of two top tech executives, has further consolidated power under Anderson, making him one of the most influential figures inside the company.