The Renault-Nissan Alliance has expanded its presence in Silicon Valley with the opening of a new advanced research center initially specializing in autonomous driving and connected cars.
The company’s larger, Silicon Valley Research Center will replace the office in Mountain View, which was founded by Nissan and its corporate strategic partner Renault in 2011. It’s goal is to enhance the Alliance’s global research capability through collaborative partnerships with companies and research institutions in this global technology hub.
“As we continue to expand our R&D capabilities throughout the world, we aggressively pursue our activities to create new values of mobility, by harnessing the latest information and communication technologies here in our new research center in Silicon Valley,” Nissan Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, said.
Renault’s primary focus in Silicon Valley is advance research on vehicle connectivity and related topics. The opening of the new center is part of Nissan’s global strategy to expand and localize its R&D function in strategic markets. It will take responsibility for selected roles in collaboration with Nissan Research Center in Japan.
Nissan researchers will pursue research of autonomous vehicles to realize a future with safe, stress-free mobility; look into connected vehicles that can tap into infrastructure and the Internet to maximize energy and time efficiency; and research in the area of Human Machine Interface to enhance the experience of autonomous and connected vehicles.
In addition, planning and advanced development of connected vehicle services and the design of user interface systems will also be studied as a complimentary field to the above disciplines.
