Renault-Nissan Alliance opens bigger Silicon Valley Research Center; focus on autonomous driving and connected cars

18 February 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.

The opening of Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley (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;

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 complimentary field to the above disciplines.

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 advance research on vehicle connectivity and related topics.