Carmakers Take the Valley

In February 2013, Franco-Japanese car behemoth Renault-Nissan opened a new, 26,000-square-foot research center in, of all places, Sunnyvale, Calif. It turns out that it is joining a long list of auto companies that have recently opened or expanded R&D shops in Silicon Valley. The Bay Area’s pool of technical talent has long attracted outside industries. But recent advances in Internet-enabled cars, electric vehicles, and driverless automobiles—not to mention local firms Google and Tesla — are fueling automotive innovation here.

Fortune Magazine, April 2013