General Motors has hired Apple executive Mike Abbott to head up its software division as the automaker ramps up efforts to exert greater control over software development and compete with rivals such as Tesla.
Abbott, the former vice president of engineering for Apple’s cloud services division, will report to GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. The official title of this newly created position is executive vice president of software.
Abbott will play a central role in GM’s plan to bring software development in house and launch revenue-generating digital services and features for its consumer and commercial customers. Software has become increasingly important in the automotive industry as companies try to attract buyers with so-called “software-defined vehicles” that offer voice, navigation and even third-party apps. Automakers’ shift to EVs has only accelerated those efforts as software plays a key role in behind-the-scenes battery management to front-facing features like showing the driver where EV chargers are located.
Abbott will lead the team responsible for that entire software ecosystem. He will oversee three software departments: software defined vehicle and operating system that is led by Scott Miller, information and digital technology headed up by Stacy Lynett and Edward Kummer’s digital business team.
“We have entered the next phase of our technology driven transformation focused on rapidly scaling new EV models and our Ultifi software platform, which will drive faster innovation and enable new and exciting customer experiences,” Barra said in a statement. “Mike’s experience as a founder and entrepreneur coupled with his proven track record creating and delivering some of the market’s most compelling software-defined solutions for consumers and companies make him an excellent fit at GM.”
During his time at Apple, Abbott led the team that develop core infrastructure for all of Apple’s cloud-based services including iCloud iMessage, private relay, mail and account security. His team also created products for Apple’s education and enterprise categories.
Abbott was previously general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers focused on investments in mobile and cloud computing, as well as working with entrepreneurs to better leverage social media tools, build teams and increase their funding. Abbott has also led teams responsible for developing applications and services at Twitter, Palm and Microsoft.
General Motors taps Apple executive to lead software effort by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
