Honda Innovation Company to be established to focus on research in areas such as connected vehicles and the Internet of Things

According to foreign media reports, Honda Silicon Valley Lab, the global open innovation center of Honda R&D Americas, Inc., will expand its research areas and conduct external cooperation as Honda R&D Innovations.

Honda Innovation's office is still located in Mountain View, CA, and it seeks to collaborate with global startups and innovative organizations such as brands and design research and development groups. Nick Sugimoto, who has long served as senior project director at Honda's Silicon Valley laboratory, has been appointed CEO of Honda Innovation.

Honda Innovation's focus areas include connected vehicles and Internet of Things (IoT) services, human-machine interface, machine intelligence and robotics, intelligent connected services, personal mobility and industrial innovation. In addition, Honda Innovation will conduct technical discussions with Waymo to integrate Waymo's autonomous driving technology into Honda's vehicles. Honda R&D Co., Ltd. and Waymo signed a memorandum of understanding in late 2016.

Honda Developer Studio and Honda Xcelerator are two open innovation projects established. As an important part of Honda's business in Silicon Valley, the above two projects will be incorporated into the newly established Honda Innovation Business, dedicated to developing new technologies and business concepts and putting them into experiments.

Honda Xcelerator is a program led by Honda's Specification Lab, which aims to provide financial assistance, cooperation opportunities, test vehicles, Honda mentors, etc. for projects that create new products. Honda R&D Studio aims to accelerate the application of in-vehicle applications. In 2014, a platform was established within Honda's Silicon Valley Laboratory for Honda engineers and application developers to collaborate.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.