Japanese automotive giant Honda has inaugurated its Silicon Valley R&D facility, along with its 2016 Accord flaunting first use of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
With a view to changing the automotive experience of its consumers, the firm's Silicon Valley operations, launched in 2000, seeks to lay emphasis on connected mobility, novel human-machine interfaces, and supporting app developers through initiatives such as Honda Developer Studio and computer science research for vehicle intelligence.
Honda R&D Americas president Frank Paluch said: "As an industry, we are on the verge of some major transformational changes brought on by the convergence of what have been, to this point, largely disparate technology disciplines.
"Honda will embrace and help lead this convergence. Our operations in Silicon Valley are a testimony to our focus on this new direction in our product and technology development efforts."
The new drive, Honda Xcelerator, aims to uphold innovation and market breakthrough technologies, riding high on its proof-of-concept prototyping. The innovations can also be communicated to their respective business units after the prototypes are developed.
Besides, the 2016 Accord, backed by technology developed in Silicon Valley, has been stated to be among the first high-volume cars to offer both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The model year 2016 cars will also be armed with Honda Sensing, to uphold safety and driver-assistive technologies.
As part of advanced technologies, Honda has also declared Future Technology for detecting and predicting bicyclist and pedestrian movement and Open Innovation section for a rear seat entertainment steeped in virtual reality.
