General Motors has announced plans to create a new advanced design and technology campus in Pasadena, California.
The new facility will replace GM’s existing space in North Hollywood and, at almost 149,000 square feet and sitting on eight acres of land, it is significantly bigger than its predecessor. GM also hopes that the new centre will create more jobs in the Pasadena area.
GM’s new centre signals its commitment to maintaining a physical presence in one of North America’s largest and most important tech hubs and is projected to cost $71 million – a lot for most businesses but pocket change for GM.
The new campus, it’s hoped, will expand GM’s capacity to support emerging business opportunities in areas of advanced technology, software integration, and future mobility solutions.
“Having a physical presence in Southern California’s technology epicentre is an integral part of our global design operations and this new innovation campus will not only expand our operations twofold but offers access to the rich cultural diversity and talent in the region,” says Michael Simcoe, GM vice president of Global Design.
“Our positioning will allow us to attract dynamic candidates in fields that will bolster GM’s proven design capabilities and challenge conventional thinking of what our future portfolio of connected products and services can encompass.”
The teams working at the centre will focus on mobility projects that fall outside the scope of existing production vehicle programs.
For example, there will be more work on BrightDrop, the newly established all-electric commercial delivery and logistics business.
There’ll be scope for some pretty out-there projects as well, potentially including on Cadillac’s personal autonomous vehicle concept as well as vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. There will even be some work on the lunar rover concept in collaboration with Lockheed Martin.
“The collaborative nature of this facility will provide our advanced design team, cross-functional groups, prospective employees and external partners with the environment they need to continually redefine the boundaries of future mobility,” says Bryan Nesbitt, GM executive director, Global Advanced Design and Global Architecture Studios.
The additional space enables GM to greatly expand its breadth of output, leveraging the new location to recruit top regional talent in disciplines of aerospace engineering, defence, automotive design, software development and advanced technology.
