GM Oshawa centre receives connected car R&D mandate

General Motors Canada's Engineering Centre has landed a new engineering and innovation mandate focused on the connected car and green technologies, hiring more than 100 software and control engineers and boosting its staff at the Oshawa ON-based centre to 300. GM has been ramping up its R&D performed in Canada in recent years committing to spend $850 million over an eight-year period between 2009 and 2016 as part of an agreement it entered in 2009 upon receiving $10.5 billion in support from the federal and provincial governments (R$, July 31/12). In 2010, the company spent $77.5 million on R&D, increasing to $96.9 million in 2011, $186.4 million in 2012 and $182.1 million in 2013. It's unclear whether the new mandate will increase G&M's Canadian R&D outlays even higher. The connected car mandate aims to take advantage of the talent emanating from what GM describes as the "world-competitive mobile technology innovation corridor" between Waterloo and Ottawa. The company notes that Ontario produces more STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduates than the state of California. The new R&D will involve the development of software and active controls allowing drivers of future GM vehicles access to high-speed data linkages between automobiles and mobile networks. The centre will also expand its R&D into alternative fuels, light-weight and advanced materials….