SUNNYVALE, Calif. (February 18, 2013) —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.
Today marks the official opening of the Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley (NRC-SV), which will enhance Nissan’s global research capability through collaborative partnerships with companies and research institutions in this global technology hub.
The opening of NRC-SV is part of Nissan’s global strategy to expand and localize its R&D function in strategic markets. The new Silicon Valley research center will take responsibility for selected roles in collaboration with Nissan Research Center in Japan.
The initial projects that Nissan researchers will pursue include:
1. Research of autonomous vehicles to realize a future with safe, stress-free mobility;
2. Research of connected vehicles that can tap into infrastructure and the Internet to maximize energy and time efficiency; and
3. 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 complementary field to the above disciplines.
Nissan Executive Vice President supervising Research and Development Mitsuhiko Yamashita said Monday during a visit to the new R&D center, “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.”
In 2011, engineers from Nissan and its corporate strategic partner Renault opened an office in Mountain View. The teams will now continue their work in the larger Sunnyvale lab. Renault’s primary focus in Silicon Valley is advanced research on vehicle connectivity and related topics.
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ABOUT THE RENAULT-NISSAN ALLIANCE
The Renault-Nissan Alliance is a strategic partnership between Paris, France-based Renault and Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan, which together sell one in 10 cars worldwide. The companies, which have been strategic partners since 1999, sold 8.1 million cars in nearly 200 countries in 2012. In addition to AVTOVAZ in Russia, the Alliance operates strategic collaborations with automakers including Germany’s Daimler, China’s Dong Feng, and India’s Ashok Leyland.
Contacts:
Brian Brockman
Nissan North America Corporate Communications
+1-248-488-4227
Tim Gallagher
Nissan North America Corporate Communications
+1-949-370-6862
Rochelle Chimenes
Renault Communications
+33 1 76 84 19 05