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The president of General Motors Canada brought some of his engineers to Hamilton’s McMaster University today to look at research by engineering students in the field of developing smarter, safer, and more fuel-efficient cars.

Steve Carlisle met with the engineering student eco-car team and tested a simulator they built. The students are developing plans to build their own car with specific performance requirements. General Motors is a support partner in the eco-car program at McMaster and at other schools, as the company looks for new ways to build better vehicles.

“More connected, more electric, more autonomous, safer; that’s our mandate. We are really focused on the connected car so we are here in addition to reviewing eco-car and formula SAE going through the research areas in software and research batteries and the like of that. we are looking for alignment on how we all move forward together.”

Meanwhile, Carlisle says he needs to see more details about the new Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to see how domestic auto makers will be affected.