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MARKHAM, Ont. — General Motors of Canada sees Ontario’s strength in advanced technologies as strategically important for its plans for creating safe, driverless vehicles in the near future, its CEO said Friday at the launch of a new software centre north of Toronto.

The new centre in Markham, Ont. — Canada’s largest automotive innovation hub, according to GM — currently has 300 employees but is aiming for 700 by 2019.

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GM also plans to open a “mobility campus” in Toronto to complement other research centres it has in the province in Oshawa, Kapuskasing and Kitchener-Waterloo.

“Our team here in Markham has worked on what we call Super Cruise, which is an automated driving technology we have in our Cadillac CT6s today,” chief executive Steve Carlisle said.

He said the Markham team is already involved in the next generation of infotainment systems, which are finding their way into the products on the road, and a driverless car pilot project that GM wants to run in 2019.