Nissan 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 Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley (NRC-SV) will focus on advanced work on a future generation of autonomous vehicles capable of driving themselves according to an occupant’s commands.
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:
– 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;
– 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.
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.
Nissan has recruited a former NASA scientist, Maarten Sierhuis, to lead the Nissan Research Center Silicon Valley.
Sierhuis joins Nissan following a career in research and software engineering spanning 25 years, including time with NASA, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, NYNEX Science & Technology, IBM Corporation, and as a founder of startup Ejenta, as well as a visiting professor and fellow with the Interactive Intelligence group at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Sierhuis has a bachelor of science in Computer Science from The Hague University and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence/Cognitive Science from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
