Andrew J. Hawkins

Steve Kenner has held safety-related positions at Apple and Uber, as well as autonomous vehicle companies like Aurora, Kodiak Robotics, and Locomation. He’ll be in charge of making sure Cruise adheres to safety standards as it seeks to re-deploy its robotaxis in San Francisco and beyond. The GM-owned company is trying to rebuild its reputation — and get back its operations permit — in the wake of an incident in which a pedestrian was stuck and dragged by one of its autonomous vehicles.

TechCrunch senior reporter (and Verge alum) Sean O’Kane got a bunch of internal documents from EV startup Fisker, and sudden-loss-of-power is just the tip of the iceberg.

Kevin Kelty was the former battery tech chief at Tesla during the infamous “production hell” Model 3 ramp. He’ll take the role of Vice President of Batteries and will report directly to GM President Mark Reuss. He worked at Tesla for 11 years and Panasonic for 15 years, so safe to say that if he can’t help GM get its stuff together, no one can.

Case in point: General Motors just inked a deal with South Korea’s LG Chem for $19 billion — yes, billion with a “b” — worth of EV battery material. That’s one of the largest EV supply deals of all time. The money will be spent over a decade and will fund the start of cathode production at the Tennessee plant operated by the two companies’ joint venture.