Nissan hires 300 more to develop connected car technology

Nissan-Renault hopes to lead in connected vehicles, electric cars and self-driving vehicles, which are increasingly becoming vital automotive technologies.

Ogi Redzic, Renault-Nissan Alliance senior vice president, told reporters yesterday at Nissan’s Yokohama headquarters that the alliance has begun hiring 300 more people to build software applications for future ‘connected’ cars, in addition to Nissan’s 300 employees and Renault SA’s 300 employees, already working on the effort.

He advocated that the benefits of developing a common technology for connectivity within the Japanese and French automotive partnership, outweigh the risks of sustaining huge damage from a possible defect or cyber-attack, reports Associated Press (AP).

Nissan-Renault will also be seeking out partnerships. Last month, the alliance said it had partnered with Microsoft to develop next-generation connected services for cars powered by Microsoft Azure, one of the company’s cloud offerings. But the partnership with Microsoft is not exclusive, meaning rivals could come up with similar services. Toyota, for instance, has established an internal company focused on connected vehicles.

Redzic says being first with a service ahead of rivals is one way to beat the competition. In line with that he oversees connected vehicles at Nissan and Renault, including staying connected with family, navigating best routes and remote control of vehicles — an area where all the world’s carmakers are trying to gain an edge. Formerly of Motorola and Nokia, Redzic was tapped for the post at the alliance earlier this year.

“The global automotive industry is at a strategic turning point, and the Renault-Nissan Alliance is pioneering the transformation in electric vehicles, autonomous driving and connectivity features on mainstream, mass-market vehicles at affordable prices,” he says.

As to what can be expected, Redzic is vague, although he stressed Nissan hopes to be different from rivals in the connected services, even if companies cooperate on a standard technology.

He also stressed that Nissan-Renault plans to work on a single platform across the alliance, including luxury models.