Even if you’ve never visited Northern California’s Santa Clara Valley, you’ve surely heard of it by its nickname: the Silicon Valley. The base of most high-tech corporations, which gave the location its worldwide-famous name, is the place chosen by Ford for its first west coast Research & Development center.
The new laboratory will be located in the San Francisco Bay area and, according to Ford, will initially operate as a “hub” for independent technology projects and identification of possible new west coast-located partners.
In the long run, it will be part of what the company calls its “innovation network”, connecting Ford’s Advanced Design Studio in California with tech partner Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Washington.
“Silicon Valley represents a deep and dynamic technology neighborhood and is far from Dearborn”, said K. Venkatesh Prasad, Ford’s senior technical leader for open innovation. “With so many opportunities and so much potential, our new lab will allow us to scout new technologies and partners in their own environment and continue our expansion beyond the traditional automaker mindset.”
Ford has already identified some key areas that its new R&D center will be involved in such as new solutions to urban personal mobility, open-source hardware and software that will allow developers to access vehicle data and create cloud-based apps and services, and ways to improve the driving experience by utilizing the vehicles’ multiple sensors.
