Silicon Valley Is the New Detroit

Ford is heading to Silicon Valley to open a new research lab, and the car computers they hope to build will do a lot more than help you find radio stations more quickly or improve your gas mileage. The future of in-car computing looks not unlike the future of phones (all app-ready, cloud-powered and touchscreen-enabled) and to get there, it’s not only Ford that’s heading West to team up with companies like Microsoft and Apple. The Dearborn, Michigan, company is just the latest major car manufacturer to go all start-up by opening a technology office in the Bay Area, joining global brands like BMW, General Motors and Nissan-Renault. When you add the myriad Silicon Valley startups that would be eager to build business models around the multi-billion dollar automotive industry, you wouldn’t believe how futuristics cars can get. The way the spokespeople talk about it, it sounds like car computers are heading into Jetsons territory (if only the cars could fly, right?) but what exists so far tends to revolve around the radio quite a bit.
Via www.theatlanticwire.com