GM software needs driving push for new hires

DETROIT — General Motors plans to add hundreds of employees to its software-defined vehicle team by the end of this year.

CEO Mary Barra called for applications during her CES keynote this month, when she outlined the automakers' electric vehicle plans, software ambitions and future vehicle concepts.

The majority of the new hires would join the company's software-defined vehicle space, the automaker's biggest growth area, said Sim Gill, engineering business manager for GM's software-defined vehicle business unit.

The new hires could work in Detroit, California, Canada, Israel or remotely from around the globe. In April, GM launched a new remote-work standard to give employees the flexibility to work from wherever they are most efficient and to give GM access to a broader talent pool beyond its office locations.

Among the team's biggest projects is GM's Ultifi platform, which is a crucial piece of the automaker's goal to boost revenue through software and subscription-based services. GM aims to double its annual revenue to about US$280 billion by 2030 and raise profit margins in part by selling additional services to customers. GM expects as much as US$25 billion in annual revenue from software and subscription services by 2030.

GM introduced its Ultifi software platform as a customer experience program that combines the purchase, onboarding and ownership experience in November 2020. Last September, GM formally announced plans for an evolved version of Ultifi, now characterized as an in-vehicle customer experience platform, to make its vehicles smarter and more personalized.

Ultifi will be the underlying software that enables applications from GM and third-party developers, Gary Cygan, director of GM's software-defined vehicle program and solution management, told Automotive News.

It can support quick updates and additions of safety, entertainment and convenience features that often are held until a vehicle's midcycle freshening.

The Cadillac Lyriq, an electric crossover due early this year, will be among the first vehicles with Ultifi, but the software will be added to others via over-the-air updates.

Examples of possible Ultifi-backed features include a weather mode that automatically closes a parked vehicle's windows before rain, automatic child locks when the vehicle senses a child in the back seat and an Amber Alert setting that automatically reports the sighting of a license plate number for which police are searching.

"To do that in a non-Ultifi environment would take a long time. With the platform, it's very, very fast," Cygan said. "We're really focused on making the platform developer-friendly [for] everyone who wants to come and build on it because it's so easy to do."

GM is pulling some of its best talent from around the company for Ultifi. Cygan was chief of staff for Doug Parks, executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain, before joining the software team in October. He has held software and engineering roles since 2008.

Gill joined the Ultifi team last year after about a decade in engineering. She was a vehicle performance engineer for Cadillac, primarily working on the sound character of the CT5-V and CT6-V Blackwing.

Whether it's perfecting the sound of Blackwing engines or determining how to elevate the customer experience with in-vehicle software, Gill said she and other engineers have the strategic know-how to reach GM's goals.

"It really comes down to the engineering mindset of how do you take this and turn it into this?" she said.

Software employees with mechanical engineering backgrounds already understand the vehicle, Cygan said, but with Ultifi they can transfer existing skills to writing software. GM is looking both internally and externally to fill the openings.

"We have a ton of tech talent at GM and a ton of people that can learn and do new things," Cygan said. "We're focused on finding the right mix of new adds from other places from right out of school, as well as migrating people from different areas in [the company]. It's a cool space because of all of the different backgrounds that you get."

Long term, when autonomous-driving technology becomes widely available, the Ultifi system could become the backbone of a vehicle's entertainment and convenience component.

"Once they can go driveway to driveway," Cygan said, "the things that you want to do in your vehicle are very, very different, and they're a lot more similar to the things you want to do in your house."