General Motors has hired a new career safety officer to revamp the automaker’s stumbling Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.
Cruise announced Monday that it had hired career specialist and autonomous vehicle safety leader Steve Kenner as chief safety officer (CSO).
With nearly four decades of experience in engineering and automotive safety, Kenner brings a unique skill set to the company at a pivotal time in its history.
In early October, a driverless Cruise vehicle dragged a San Francisco pedestrian roughly 20 feet, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The incident and the preceding allegations resulted in a $1.5 million fine and Cruise’s license to operate in California being suspended by regulators. GM installed new leadership at Cruise and laid off hundreds of workers following the incident.
In a report prepared by the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Cruise was scrutinized for its response and for reportedly attempting to cover up the incident.
“Cruise must take decisive steps to address these issues in order to restore trust and credibility,” the report stated, according to the Associated Press.
As CSO, Kenner will oversee Cruise’s safety management systems and operations, working in direct partnership with the company’s Board of Directors.
“I have worked on safety critical technologies throughout my career, I believe in the safety potential of autonomous vehicles, and I want to safely and responsibly realize that potential,” said Kenner.
“Safety requires that every team within a company work together to put passengers and other road users first. That partnership must include regulators, and I look forward to earning their trust. At the end of the day we have the same goal as regulators: to make our roadways safer and establish public confidence in the [autonomous vehicle] industry.”
Over his career, Kenner has served as global director of automotive safety at Ford and vice president of safety at self-driving trucking company Kodiak. He also brings years of expertise through his previous leadership positions at Apple, Uber, Locomation, and Aurora.
“On a personal note, I started my career as an engineer at GM, so it’s a full circle moment returning to work for a company so closely aligned with GM and its plans for the future,” Kenner added.
The Dallas Express reached out to Cruise for comment but was referred back to Monday’s press release.
