GM Creates Self-Driving Technology Team

General Motors on Monday established a new division devoted to autonomous vehicle technology.

The Detroit automaker last week announced that vice president of global product programs Doug Parks would lead the new Autonomous and Technology Vehicle Development Team.

The team will comprise employees from throughout GM and will focus both on engineering and on potential partnerships and investments in self-driving capabilities.

A company spokesman said that the announcement reflected GM's shifting of autonomous technology from research to product development.

Parks previously worked on GM's hybrid and electric vehicles. He is the company's first vice president of autonomous technology and vehicle execution and will report to global product development head Mark Reuss.

Sheri Hickok, who heads engineering of GM's next-generation pickup trucks, will be the company's executive chief engineer in charge of autonomous vehicles.

GM said last fall that it hopes to develop a driverless vehicle sometime this year. Last month, the company announced a $500 million partnership with ridesharing company Lyft that eventually hopes to deploy on-demand autonomous vehicles.