Lawrence D. Burns is the former corporate vice president of Research and Development for General Motors. Burns oversaw GM's advanced technology, innovation programs, and corporate strategy. He was a member of GM's Automotive Strategy Board and Automotive Product Board.[1] Within GM, he personally championed vehicle electrification, “connected” vehicles, fuel cells, bio-fuels, advanced batteries, autonomous driving, and a series of innovative concept vehicles. He has been a leading advocate for design and technology innovation focused on the total customer experience and the application of operations research before his retirement in 2009.[2] http://www.earth.columbia.edu/videos/watch/116. He is the author of Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car—And How It Will Reshape Our World and a co-author of Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century.
Burns was invited to speak at the 2005 TED Conference.[3]
In 2011, Burns was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering[4] for leadership and technical contributions to automotive technologies.
Burns advises organizations on the future of mobility, logistics, manufacturing, energy and innovation. His clients include Waymo (previously Google Self-Driving Cars), Peloton Technology and Kitson & Partners.[5]