Amazon.com Inc has hired a top General Motors Co (GM) executive, a source familiar with the move said on Thursday, in a further sign of the technology giant’s likely expansion into autonomous vehicles.
The tech group’s new executive is Alicia Boler Davis, head of GM’s global manufacturing operations.
Amazon had no immediate comment on the hiring of Davis, which was reported earlier by CNBC.
GM earlier on Thursday said in a statement that Davis was leaving “to pursue other opportunities” after 25 years with the Detroit, Michigan-based auto giant.
Amazon, which has moved beyond its online retail roots into cloud computing, streaming media and artificial intelligence, last month said that it was leading a US$700 million investment round in Rivian Automotive LLC, a young self-driving auto technology firm.
The potential Tesla Inc rival late last year unveiled an electric pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Amazon has also invested in autonomous driving tech firm Aurora Innovation, founded by former Google, Tesla and Uber Technologies Inc executives, and it has deployed its own autonomous delivery robots.
Separately, French ride-sharing platform BlaBlaCar yesterday said that it would launch long-distance bus services in Germany, taking on the near-monopoly in the hands of competitor Flixbus.
The company plans to link up 60 cities in Germany and the Benelux Union with its BlaBlaBus lines, CEO Nicolas Brusson told business daily Handelsblatt.
Passengers could complete their journeys to destinations not served by the bus network using BlaBlaCar’s ride-sharing platform, he said.
The company’s first German lines could begin operation in a few months, depending on how smoothly talks go with local bus firms, he added.
BlaBlaCar would organize the timetables and sell tickets online or via mobile apps, while the buses themselves would be run by subcontractors.
“We will of course offer very attractive fares early on” to challenge Flixbus’ low-cost offerings, Brusson said.
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