Motional names president and CEO

Laura Major was appointed president and CEO of Motional, the autonomous technology joint venture of Hyundai Motor Group and automotive supplier Aptiv, the company announced on June 12.

Major, who has been the company’s chief technology officer since its launch in August 2020, will lead the firm as it works with Hyundai and Aptiv to launch its driverless commercial ride-hailing service in 2026. She has served as interim CEO since September.

As Motional’s CTO, Major led its engineering team in developing and creating its machine learning-driven software stack. Motional is equipping Hyundai Ioniq 5 EVs with its technology and testing the vehicles in various driving conditions in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas, per its website.

“Leveraging our deep expertise in building fully driverless systems and our agility in realizing the latest AI breakthroughs, we are strongly positioned to unlock a future where safe autonomous vehicles are a practical part of daily life,” Major said in the announcement.

Major has worked in the autonomous and AI fields since 2005, including time with Draper Laboratory and Aria Insights, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also co-authored the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration.