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GM’s new product chief Sterling Anderson eyes technology renaissance for automaker
GM Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson during the automaker’s “GM Forward” event on Oct. 22, 2025 in New York City.
GM
DETROIT — General Motors’ newest product and technology executive has said he thinks of the Detroit automaker as a canvas. One that can be curated, retouched or even torn apart.
After roughly six months as executive vice president and chief product officer, Sterling Anderson appears to be putting all three ideas to work as he oversees the company’s vast product portfolio — from the vehicles themselves to the software powering them.
Anderson, who left the self-driving car company Aurora Innovation that he co-founded to join GM in June, has quickly become the most influential product executive in more than 15 years, outside of GM President Mark Reuss.
He has consolidated power to oversee “the end-to-end product lifecycle” of GM vehicles, including manufacturing engineering, battery, software and services product management, and engineering teams, according to GM.
“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 told CNBC during an Oct. 22 technology event in New York. “That’s the point of the role, I think, is it brings together all of these pieces into a unified approach to how we do product going forward.”
Since then, the company’s acclaimed heads of software and artificial intelligence have unexpectedly exited the company after relatively short tenures. Their main responsibilities related to vehicles now fall under Anderson.
GM attributed the abrupt departures of Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering, and Barak Turovsky, head of AI, to restructuring efforts.
Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of General Motors (right to left), Mark Reuss, President, Sterling Anderson, Chief Product Officer, and Dave Richardson, Senior Vice President Software and Services Engineering at “GM Forward” on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 in New York.
GM
“We are strategically integrating AI capabilities directly into our business and product organizations, enabling faster innovation and more targeted solutions,” a GM spokeswoman said about Turovsky’s departure in an emailed statement last week.
It’s another indication of Anderson’s strategy. He previously told CNBC that for GM to succeed, software and product must be thought of as one and the same rather than as separate units, like they have been in recent years.
Anderson said he spent the first months of his GM tenure “in a listen mode,” immersing himself in the automaker’s operations.
“What that five months of listening has allowed me to do is really fine tune and target how we’re going, not just kind of what we’re going to innovate on, but how we’re going to do it,” he said in the October interview.
A third executive is also leaving soon, as Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software and services product management, will depart the company effective Dec. 12, as first reported by CNBC.
Unlike Richardson and Turovsky, the company did not attribute his departure to the restructuring. Three sources familiar with the situation who spoke anonymously because the discussion was private told CNBC that Cetinok left to pursue another opportunity.
Cetinok, Richardson and Turovsky either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment about their departures. Cetinok and Richardson joined GM in 2023, while Turovsky was hired in March.
‘Silicon Valley cowboy’
Anderson, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant turned Tesla executive, said before he joined GM, he had thought of the automaker more of a comedic caricature rather than a canvas that he would help turn into a modern masterpiece.
Anderson said CEO Mary Barra and Reuss, whom he reports to, helped him break down that “old-world automotive” caricature and concerns about employees of the automaker not supporting his efforts.
“I was really worried about it, right? I’m the ‘Silicon Valley cowboy’ that’s coming into Detroit and, you know, ‘pew pewing’ his way through an innovation story with a team that I was concerned wouldn’t receive that well. I found it quite different from what I’d expected,” Anderson said.
His appointment is a refocus for the automaker on software-defined vehicles and autonomy. He said GM’s goal is to build an autonomous vehicle, which comes a year after the company disbanded its majority-owned Cruise AV business following years of development and billions of dollars in capital.
New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin and Chair and CEO of General Motors Mary Barra speak onstage during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
“Just be clear, we’re developing a self-driving product,” he told CNBC. “It’s a self-driving product that can be safe without any handbacks to the human in safety critical situations.”
Barra on Wednesday cited Anderson and the automaker’s past efforts in autonomous vehicles as reasons why GM is “well positioned” to achieve autonomous highway driving in its vehicles beginning in 2028.
“As we talk about artificial intelligence, autonomous driving is one of the ultimate applications that I still strongly believe in,” Barra said at The New York Times DealBook Summit, reconfirming the automaker’s “personal autonomous vehicle” plans rather than Cruise robotaxis.
Anderson is considered a leading expert in vehicle autonomy. Before co-founding self-driving firm Aurora, he led Tesla’s Model X program and the team that delivered its “Autopilot” advanced driver assistance system. He also developed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s “Intelligent Co-Pilot,” a semi-autonomous vehicle safety system.
Anderson, who holds a master’s and Ph.D. in robotics from MIT, said it took several conversations for him to leave Aurora, which he thought he “would die with.”
He isn’t alone in his change of heart; however not many have lasted long at the automaker. Several other current and former Silicon Valley executives have voiced similar optimism about GM as well as its longstanding CEO and president — both of whom have spent their entire careers at the automaker as “GM lifers.”
Richardson previously hailed working for Barra, who he reported to before Anderson, as “an opportunity of a lifetime.” Cetinok previously described his position as “a product person’s dream” in an interview with CNBC.
Jens Peter “JP” Clausen, who led Tesla’s manufacturing expansion and worked at Lego and Google, partly credited the “opportunity to work for a leader like” Barra as a reason to join GM as its head of manufacturing before an unexpected departure after only one year.
The accolades have gone both ways. When Anderson’s appointment with GM was announced in May, Barra and Reuss hailed Anderson as being equipped to “evolve” and “reinvent” the automaker’s operations.
In addition to Anderson’s new product unit, Reuss continues to oversee the automaker’s manufacturing, design, marketing and sales, among other operations.
Tech execs
The global automotive industry has battled for years to better integrate technology into vehicles — from their production to consumer-facing software and remote, or “over-the-air,” updates like Tesla pioneered.
GM has taken an aggressive approach to tech by hiring leaders from Tesla and companies such as Apple and Google. However, many times, those executives have had short tenures with the company, such as the three most recent departures.
“[Traditional U.S. automakers] have very much had a significant struggle with understanding software and electronics technology, and that has caused them to have a parade of experts quote ‘coming in to help,'” said Peter Abowd, an engineer turned automotive and technology consultant.
Abowd, general manager of engineering excellence at consulting firm Envorso, attributed the executive turnover to “a misapplication of skills and talent,” as well as unrealistic expectations and overwhelming responsibilities in a company as large as GM and an industry as complex as the automotive world.
“It’s just kind of setting the person up for a bit of failure,” Abowd said. “In a couple years, you can’t culturally shift an organization … so the best thing to do is to part ways.”
That kind of turnover has led automakers like GM to regularly pivot in different directions, including in-vehicle technologies, electric vehicle batteries and other areas not traditionally “core” to the automotive industry.
Barra, who is GM’s longest-serving CEO since the company’s founder, has become known for hiring executives at opportunistic times based on the company’s top priorities, which now appear to largely land under Anderson.
GM “is really good at a lot on things” that aren’t necessarily apparent to those outside the company, according to Anderson. He said he believes combining his experience with fast-moving companies such as Tesla and Aurora and GM’s “massive machine” and resources will better position the automaker for the future.
“I view it as a canvas,” Anderson said. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for innovation, and I’d be remiss not to see what I can do for it.”
The former One Direction member-turned-solo artist appears on the Sunday Times list for the first time.
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Budget 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman gives a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, while proposing a simpler tax and customs system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2026-27.
Budget 2026 Takeaways: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented the Union Budget 2026-27, giving a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, proposing a simpler tax and customs regime, and hailing the government’s modernisation drive as a “reforms express”.
The Budget 2026 is anchored around three ‘kartavyas’ — driving growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, building people’s capacity, and ensuring inclusive development under the vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas.
In her ninth consecutive Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman laid out a multi-pronged strategy to sustain growth amid global uncertainty, including expanding domestic electronics and semiconductor capabilities, de-risking infrastructure projects, skilling India’s youth for emerging technologies, and easing compliance for taxpayers and importers.
Here are the key takeaways from Budget 2026 across manufacturing, infrastructure, skills, AI, taxation and customs duty.
Manufacturing Gets A Boost
Budget 2026 put a special emphasis on the manufacturing landscape in India. The outlay for electronics components manufacturing was raised sharply to Rs 40,000 crore, while new schemes for rare earth magnets, chemical parks, container manufacturing and capital goods seek to reduce import dependency, and strengthen domestic supply chains. Textiles got an integrated, employment-oriented package covering fibres, clusters, skilling and sustainability.
Infrastructure-Led Growth
Infrastructure got a boost with a higher capex allocation and initiatives like a risk guarantee fund to de-risk projects for private developers, new dedicated freight corridors and national waterways, dedicated REITs (real estate investment trusts) for recycling of significant real estate assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), and a seaplane VGF (viability gap funding) scheme.
The Centre’s capital expenditure (capex) target has been increased to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore earmarked for the current financial year. Moreover, maintaining the fiscal discipline, Sitharaman said the government expects the fiscal deficit to be at 4.3 per cent of the GDP in 2026-27, lower than 4.4 per cent projected for the current financial year.
Tier-II and Tier-III cities were placed at the centre of urban growth via City Economic Regions, backed by reform-linked funding.
“We shall continue to focus on developing infrastructure in cities with over 5 lakh population (Tier II and Tier III), which have expanded to become growth centres,” Sitharaman said in her Budget Speech.
Greater Emphasis On Skilling
The Budget placed renewed emphasis on the services economy as a jobs engine. A high-powered Education-to-Employment and Enterprise Committee will realign skilling with market needs, including the impact of emerging technologies.
Content creation and creative industries get a boost through AVGC labs in schools and colleges, support for animation, gaming and comics, and new institutional capacity for design and hospitality. Tourism-linked skilling, from guides to digital heritage documentation, signals a clear intent to convert culture and content into employment and exports.
“I propose to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges,” FM Sitharaman said. AVGC stands for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics.
AI & Semiconductors Push
Artificial intelligence (AI) was positioned as a cross-sector force multiplier rather than a standalone theme. The Budget provided a push to artificial intelligence (AI) by promoting adoption with governance, agriculture, education and skilling, including proposals for AI-enabled advisory tools for farmers and AI integration in education curricula.
On hardware, the semiconductor strategy expanded decisively under ISM 2.0 (India Semiconductor Mission 2.0), with focus on domestic equipment manufacturing, materials, research centres and workforce development, signalling a long-term commitment to building a resilient chip ecosystem in India.
Taxation, ITR, TDS, TCS
A major structural reform comes with the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026, containing simpler rules and redesigned forms.
Budget 2026 provided compliance relief for individuals, including extended timelines for revising returns to March 31 from December 31 earlier, staggered ITR due dates, and easier filing of Form 15G/15H through depositories.
Individuals with ITR-1 and ITR-2 returns will continue to file till July 31, and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till August 31, according to the Budget Speech 2026-27.
“I propose to extend time available for revising returns from 31st December to up to 31st March with the payment of a nominal fee. I also propose to stagger the timeline for filing of tax returns. Individuals with ITR 1 and ITR 2 returns will continue to file till 31st July and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till 31st August,” Sitharaman said.
TDS (Tax deducted at source) rules were clarified for manpower services, while a rule-based system for lower or nil TDS certificates is proposed. TCS rates were cut to 2% for overseas tour packages, education and medical expenses under liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Litigation is targeted through integrated assessment and penalty orders, lower pre-deposit requirements, and wider immunity provisions.
TDS on the sale of immovable property by a non-resident will be deducted and deposited through resident buyer’s PAN (Permanent Account Number)-based challan instead of requiring TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number), Sitharaman said.
Customs Duty Tweaks
Customs duty rationalisation continued with a clear focus on domestic manufacturing, energy transition and ease of living. Exemptions have been extended or introduced for capital goods used in lithium-ion batteries, critical minerals processing, nuclear power projects and aircraft manufacturing.
Personal imports will become cheaper with a reduction in duty on goods for personal use from 20% to 10%. Seventeen cancer drugs and additional rare-disease treatments were exempted from customs duty. Process reforms aimed at trust-based, tech-driven clearances, faster cargo movement and lower compliance costs, especially for exporters and MSMEs (micro, small, medium and enterprises).
STT On F&O Hiked
The Budget increased securities transaction tax (STT) on futures trading from 0.02% to 0.05% and on options trading from 0.10% to 0.15%, a move that upset the capital markets with the BSE Sensex crashing more than 2,300 points from the day’s high and the NSE Nifty dropping to 24,571.75.
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a direct tax imposed on the buying and selling of securities in India.
Commenting on the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The Union Budget reflects the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. It strengthens the reform journey and charts a clear roadmap for Viksit Bharat.”
February 01, 2026, 14:43 IST
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Shanghai (China): The Consulate General of India in Shanghai welcomed the resumption of Air India’s direct flight services between Shanghai and New Delhi, marking a major step forward in restoring people-to-people, business and institutional connectivity between India and China.
According to an official release, the inaugural Shanghai-New Delhi flight departed today from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, carrying over 230 passengers on board the Boeing 787 aircraft. The relaunch comes after a gap of nearly six years and represents a significant milestone in normalising bilateral air connectivity following the suspension of services in early 2020.
Speaking on the occasion, Consul General Pratik Mathur said, “The resumption of direct flights between Shanghai and New Delhi is a tangible expression of the renewed momentum in India-China engagement. Enhanced air connectivity is essential for facilitating trade, tourism, academic exchanges and people-to-people contacts, particularly between India and East China. We are pleased to see Air India restoring this important link.”
As per a release, Air India will operate the route four times a week using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring modernised cabins and enhanced onboard services. The restored service reflects the growing demand for travel between the two countries and the steady recovery of cross-border mobility. It will also support commercial, educational and cultural exchanges between India and the Yangtze River Delta region, one of China’s most economically dynamic clusters.
The Consulate General of India in Shanghai remains committed to supporting initiatives that strengthen connectivity and deepen cooperation across trade, investment, tourism, education and cultural exchange, the release stated.
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