Honda unveils 2016 Accord in Silicon Valley - San Jose Mercury News
MOUNTAIN VIEW -- Skipping typical new car debut venues such as Detroit, Los Angeles and New York, Honda unveiled its latest Accord model Thursday at a high-tech research laboratory in Silicon Valley. Although an unusual place to introduce Honda's 2016 version of the mild-mannered family sedan, California's best-selling car last year, the announcement symbolized the region's growing importance for auto industry innovation. Honda also used the unveiling to mark the grand opening of its expanded research and development center in Mountain View that is working on Internet-connected cars, in-car apps and other advanced research. The new Accord will be Honda's first vehicle, and one of the first in the industry, to offer both Apple CarPlay and Google's Android Auto through partnerships with the two nearby tech giants. It's not just Palo Alto electric car pioneer Tesla and the engineers designing Google's robot cars who are turning Silicon Valley into an innovation hub for automotive technology. Mercedes-Benz has had a Silicon Valley presence since the 1990s, but expanded into a 3-story, 72,000-square-foot Sunnyvale lab in late 2013. Nissan also expanded into a Sunnyvale building that year. Source: www.mercurynews.com
