The hackathon is hosted by the Autotech Council, a group formed in 2012 to bring automakers and suppliers together and connect them to startups from around the Bay Area. One of the most recent members is Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which in early 2014 appointed an emissary to Silicon Valley.
With FCA’s arrival, every major automaker is now invested to some degree in the global epicenter of digital technology.
Most European car companies arrived in the first boom of the 1990s; Asian automakers followed at the turn of the century; and U.S. automakers, within the past several years, have established presences.