DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- Chris Borroni-Bird, who left General Motors Co., where he developed futuristic vehicles, plans to join Qualcomm Inc., the largest seller of mobile-phone semiconductors, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The person asked not to be identified because the hiring hasn't been announced.
Borroni-Bird, who joined GM about a decade ago after working at Chrysler Group, was responsible for advanced vehicle research and development at GM.
He wrote a book, Reinventing the Automobile, with then-GM Vice President of R&D Lawrence Burns and William Mitchell, the late Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, about the future of urban mobility that was published in 2010.
GM previously said Borroni-Bird left his job at the automaker to work for another company.
Emily Kilpatrick, a spokeswoman for San Diego-based Qualcomm, declined to comment Thursday. GM didn't make Borroni-Bird available.
Borroni-Bird, seen in recent years demonstrating projects such as the pod-like EN-V self-driving vehicle, was becoming a public face for GM's advanced technology efforts, said Jim Hall, a principal of consulting firm 2953 Analytics Inc. in Birmingham, Mich.
"Every loss of an employee at General Motors is at one point a problem for them right now," said Hall.
