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General Motors names Mary Barra to head global product development

General Motors named Mary Barra head of global product development on Thursday, succeeding Tom Stephens, who was named global chief technology officer of the automaker on Wednesday. An engineer, Barra, 49, is the first woman to hold the top product development job at GM. Since 2009 she has served as vice president of global human resources for GM--a key post as the automaker restructured and emerged from bankruptcy protection.

How Google's autonomous car navigates city streets

Google's self-driving car has been on the road for five years now, at various levels of autonomy. From the ease and relative serenity of California's arrow-straight highways, the car drove hundreds of thousands of miles with a greater level of concentration and mastery than the wandering attention spans of humans could accomplish. In 2012, Google shifted from the freeways to the cities, navigating a far more convoluted set of challenges: the slow-speed chaos that comes with any city, any suburb, any place with people and cars in it.

Buick Verano

The Buick Verano will become the GM brand's smallest model when launched at the upcoming NAIAS in Detroit. Based on the same Delta II platform as the Chevrolet Cruze and Opel/Vauxhall Astra, it is also visually related to the latter, albeit to a lesser degree than its larger Regal sibling is to the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia. The upper-C-segment Verano's DRG features the familiar 'waterfall' grille, finished in black chrome, blue-lensed projector headlamps and requisite portholes atop its hood.