GM Hires Aurora Co-founder Sterling Anderson as Chief Product Officer
General Motors (GM) has appointed Sterling Anderson, a prominent figure in the autonomous vehicle (AV) industry and co-founder of Aurora, as its new Vice President of Global Product and Chief Product Officer. This newly created role will oversee GM’s entire product line, encompassing both gas-powered and electric vehicles, and will integrate hardware, software, services, and user experience across all departments.
Anderson’s appointment, effective June 2, places him at the forefront of GM’s efforts to modernize and electrify its vehicle portfolio. He will report directly to GM President Mark Reuss and will be based at the company’s Mountain View Tech Center in California.
The announcement comes shortly after Anderson’s resignation from Aurora, the self-driving truck startup he co-founded. His departure included stepping down from the Aurora board, just a week after the company launched its commercial self-driving truck service in Texas. Anderson stated that conversations with GM leadership, including CEO Mary Barra, convinced him of the potential impact he could make at the automaker.
“The scope of what we’ll do at GM is expansive,” Anderson noted. “It’s an ability to affect millions of people’s lives for the better, including with just magical experiences in their vehicles that also improve the safety and efficacy of our roadways.”
Anderson’s responsibilities will span vehicle and manufacturing engineering, battery technology, and software and services product management. Key personnel, including Kurt Kelty, head of battery, propulsion, and sustainability (formerly of Tesla), will report to Anderson. Additionally, heads of global manufacturing, product engineering, software and services, vehicle product programs, safety, and integration will fall under his leadership.
Mark Reuss emphasized the importance of this new role, stating, “Our customers are expecting more from our vehicles than ever before. We have an opportunity to evolve the way we build from the ground up, with tighter integration between software and hardware, shorter development cycles, and an unwavering focus on a seamless customer experience. Sterling brings decades of leadership in automotive engineering and transformative software innovation to his new role and is the right leader to help GM continue leading now and into the future.”
Anderson clarified that his decision to leave Aurora was influenced by the company’s recent achievement of a major driverless self-driving truck service milestone. He intends to focus initially on understanding GM’s culture, products, and internal dynamics before implementing significant changes. While remaining open to improvements and innovations, Anderson indicated that his objectives are aligned with Barra’s vision for rapid iteration and software-defined vehicle platforms.
Before co-founding Aurora, Anderson served as director of Tesla’s Autopilot program. His co-founders at Aurora included Chris Urmson (former head of Google’s self-driving project) and Drew Bagnell (previously leading Uber’s autonomy and perception team). Anderson holds advanced degrees in robotics from MIT.
