General Motors CEO Mary Barra hasn’t been short on challenges since taking over the automaker in 2014. She rose to the top just as GM began to recover from its bankruptcy, only to be slapped with the ignition switch crisis and tough decisions in international markets.
Despite it all, Barra has prevailed and begun investing where the future is headed: self-driving cars. Under her direction, GM acquired Cruise Automation for $1 billion, and another $600 million has been invested this year. The New York Times outlined Barra’s goals in a new piece and she is determined to lead.
“We are very, very serious and intent on putting something on the road,” Ms. Barra said of the company’s automated vehicles. “We definitely want to be first.”
It’s a challenge to reinvent a traditional automaker into something much more, and GM is tackling the future head-on. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has been an integral part of the strategy, which foregoes having to retrofit autonomous vehicle technology to existing cars. The Bolt EV is already ready for such a revolution.
“These vehicles coming off the assembly line have been built from the ground up,” Kyle Vogt, Cruise Automation founder, said. “That’s a real car and not a mash-up of off-the-shelf parts that need to be integrated into the system.”
At the same time, Barra is feeling the heat over underperforming and arguably undervalued stock prices, despite the moves and shakeups that have been taking place the past few years.
“Does it frustrate me?” she said of the stock price. “Yes, but I want to do the right things over the long term to improve the business.”
But, wherever the industry goes, GM is ready to chase it or innovate new areas itself.
“We don’t go in to compete,” Barra said. “We don’t go in to have an entry. With every new product we’re doing, we are going in to win.”
Comments
Self driving is the type of technological paradigm shift that makes millions, possibly billions for the first-to-market company and early market adopters (qualify that by: with a successful, safe and accepted product).
Just think of the human driver industries that will be affected by a successful product; couriers, taxis and trucking come to mind.
The other approach could be to develop the self-drive technology and technical infrastructure, then license it to manufacturers, cf Microsoft MS-DOS. They stand to make billions for the foreseeable future as this is a technology wave, not a product wave.
License to Microsoft?
One step forward, two steps back.
I think they can do better/fresher than ms-dos.
Duuh, not that bright there Capt….
c.f. from the Latin, confer, or “to compare with”. It was a ‘comparison’ with what MS did back in the day where they licensed MS-DOS to all manufacturers of PC rather than keep the tech to themselves and produce the products (PCs) that they ran on. This was a highly successful strategy for MS when it introduced MS-DOS. Bill GATES, richest man in the world, need i say more.
Right!
Thanks for the Latin lesson, but I think So-crates Johnson touched on that in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I think they used PC’s back then.
So, thanks again. Party on, Fleaman!
If you’re going to comment here, at least give the appearance you belong to the Hominidae family, not the Haplorhini suborder.
Yes, if GM plans to pour billions into autonomous then, since first to market is quickly forgotten, they should licence out to other automakers.
Maybe GM should “split” into two companies: One r&d and the other a traditional manufacturer. GM platforms, too, are a valuable commodity for FCA or JLR.
Otherwise, GM should save money and buy the technology like BMW and many other car makers do.
Steve the money is in selling the Technogy and cars not just selling cars.
There was a time GM had a lot of The he and aerospace going but it was squandered in the pre bankruptcy.
Today they still have a good R an D situation for Auto ogives and they are working to strengthen it.
Cases like the transmissions being done with a Ford are where Ford supplies the spec they want and money then GM designs the tranny and gets it at a minimal cost. In the case of the one they did for BMW they got it paid for in full by BMW and left with the full use two years later.
They tech they want to develop is so very similar.
The one issue with tech companies they understand how to develope the hardware but the programming is beyond them as the often have little clue to the needs and wants of the customers be it the automaker or the end user.
Splitting them up would only increase the size and expense.
As for buying tech when you could design it and sell it would be lost income that will be needed in the future and no help to stock prices. Stock prices are not as much a concern at BMWdue to their ownership line.
Yes, Mary Barra is such a “strong woman”, Sean…We get it…You are obsessed with the strong woman rhetoric…I don’t think Mary Barra needs a male blogger cheering squad to reaffirm her “strength”, “leadership”, and career accomplishments. I am quite sure she is capable by herself without any beta male “support.”
Name dropping the New York Slime, every left-wingers wet dream, is a whole other topic…
Are you MGTOW? Or just Alt Right/Tea Party Redneck?
Look… it’s trying to be humanoid…
Well back to the topic at hand.
Advanced technologies be it a welding technic to well aluminum to steel, molding a carbon fiber part to artificial intelligence for self driving cars or even the advanced battery that no one has developed yet are the way for ward for automakers,
Tech stock grow in value while stocks stock flounder no matter what.
Many tech and bio tech stock have ever growing value even if the have never produced a product or even a profit from that product in the form of a dividend. Tesla is the perfect example.
It is no as fast as a Corvette or sexy as a show car but to develope these technologies and sell them to others is where the money is.
Today’s money is not in Micro Soft or Apple today as they have reach a plateau. The stock that grow are the suppliers to these tech firms with new licensed products.
Hell if your tech is good enough maybe Apple will buy you out and the stock will go through the roof.
Of course she wants to chase self driving cars. It will print loads of money and the younger generations won’t be able to get enough of it.