Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance have just expanded it’s operations in the heart of tech world, Silicon Valley, with the brand new Nissan Research Center.
The Nissan Research Center opened today and is located in Sunnyvale, California. (The area is also known as Silicon Valley, due to all the technology companies based around the area.) The new facility will help Renault-Nissan with the goal of trying to develop autonomous and connected cars, which is not too far off.
Placing the Nissan Research Center was no accident as Renault-Nissan want to expand partnerships and research with other institutions and companies in Silicon Valley a the hotbed of tech innovation. This is all part of Nissan’s global strategy to expand and localize its R&D function in key markets. The new center will also collaborate with the Nissan Research Center in Japan.
The initial projects that Nissan researchers will pursue at the Silicon Valley include:
- Research of autonomous vehicles to realize a future with safe, stress-free mobility;
- Research of 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.
The Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley will also help develop and advance connected vehicle services and the design of user interface systems will also be studied and researched.
In 2011, engineers from Nissan-Renault Alliance opened an office in Mountain View, California. Nissan researchers and engineers will now continue their work in the larger and new Sunnyvale lab.
“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.” said Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Nissan Executive Vice President supervising Research and Development.
