THE former boss of car manufacturers including Opel, GM Europe, Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Carl-Peter Forster, has been appointed to the board of directors of Canadian-based autonomous vehicle and driver assistance specialist LeddarTech.

In addition to his appointment as a board member for LeddarTech, Mr Forster is currently chairman of Chemring Plc, chairman of the shareholder committee of Hella KGaA, and a member of the boards of IMI Plc, Babcock Plc, The Mobility House AG, Gordon Murray Design Ltd., Kinexon GmbH, Clear Motion Ltd., and Envisics Ltd.

He has an extensive senior management background in the automotive industry with brands including BMW AG, where he held various positions including vice-president.

He was also managing director of BMW South Africa, and a member of the board of BMW AG responsible for global manufacturing until 2000.

Between 2001 and 2009, Mr Forster was managing director of Adam Opel AG, then from 2006, president and CEO of General Motors Europe and a member of GM’s Global Automotive Strategy board.

From 2010 to 2011, he was Group CEO of Tata Motors (which included JLR).

Since 2013, Mr Forster has been a special advisor to the chairman of the Geely Group, also holding board positions at Volvo Cars Group in Gothenburg (Sweden), Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong), as well as CEVT (the Geely engineering center in Gothenburg), and chairman of The London Electric Vehicle Company (formerly The London Taxi Company) until 2019.

He holds a degree in economics from Bonn University and a degree in aviation and space technology from the Technical University in Munich, Germany.

LeddarTech chairman Michel Brule said: “Carl-Peter brings with him a wealth of industry experience as a leader with some of the world’s largest automotive companies.

“Carl-Peter’s extensive experience in the automotive industry as well as in ADAS and AD technology companies will be a tremendous asset to LeddarTech.”

Canadian company LeddarTech, founded in 2007, is a leader in environmental sensing platforms for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems.

It specialises in enabling customers to solve critical sensing and perception challenges across the entire value chain of the automotive and mobility market segments.

Its LeddarVision sensor-fusion and perception platform and its cost-effective, scalable, and versatile LiDAR development solution for automotive-grade solid-state LiDARs allows OEMs to develop sensing solutions for autonomy levels 1 to 5.

These solutions are used in autonomous shuttle, truck, bus, delivery vehicle, smart city/factory, and robotaxi applications.

LeddarTech has more than 95 patented technologies designed to enhance ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and autonomous driving capabilities.

By Neil Dowling