OREANDA-NEWS. After almost 20 years in Palo Alto, MBRDNA is now moving into a larger building as its R&D headquarters in Sunnyvale, just a few miles away. A workforce of around 100 is presently employed at the Mercedes-Benz Silicon Valley R&D Center, with plans for a doubling of resources in the next few years.

Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. (MBRDNA) currently employs a workforce of some 300 at various locations in the USA in the following areas:
* Group Research & Advanced Engineering (Silicon Valley/California, New Jersey)
* Advanced User Experience Design (Silicon Valley/California)
* eDrive & Powertrain (Michigan)
* Advanced Exterior Design (California)
* Tech Center (California, Michigan)

"We have been operating various R&D locations in North America for many years now, in order to incorporate our customers' needs and technological and social trends into our vehicles more quickly," notes Prof. Dr Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

Another development and design focus in Sunnyvale is on shaping a holisticuser experience with the aim of rendering the driver's interaction with the vehicle and its surroundings as simple, useful and delightful as possible.

The MBRDNA headquarters have also long been concerned with adapting driving assistance systems for the US market. This area is now undergoing substantial expansion into a research and advancedevelopment engineering department which will focus on functions relating to autonomous driving.

Other areas of research and development are fuel cell-powered electric vehicles and battery technologies. Social trends in the USA are examined by the Society & Technology Research Group, which provides well-founded information on the American market and assesses current trends and their possible consequences. Since 2012 a team of Business Innovation, a Daimler AG think tank, has been in operation at MBRDNA, concerned with the development of innovative business models which go beyond the core business area of automobile manufacturing.