MOUNTAIN VIEW — Skipping typical new car debut venues such as Detroit, Los Angeles and New York, Honda unveiled its latest Accord model Thursday at a high-tech research laboratory in Silicon Valley.

Although an unusual place to introduce Honda’s 2016 version of the mild-mannered family sedan, California’s best-selling car last year, the announcement symbolized the region’s growing importance for auto industry innovation.

Honda also used the unveiling to mark the grand opening of its expanded research and development center in Mountain View that is working on Internet-connected cars, in-car apps and other advanced research.

The new Accord will be Honda’s first vehicle, and one of the first in the industry, to offer both Apple CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto through partnerships with the two nearby tech giants. Pricing and fuel economy will be revealed later this year.

“We have watched Silicon Valley evolve from the leader of computer technology and venture capital activity to an important place for automotive R&D,” said Koichi Fukuo, president of research and development for the Japanese carmaker.

It’s not just Palo Alto electric car pioneer Tesla and the engineers designing Google’s robot cars who are turning Silicon Valley into an innovation hub for automotive technology.

While Google is singularly focused on building fully autonomous vehicles, other companies are working on self-driving technology that could help human drivers rather than fully taking over. The region is also a center for research into Internet-connected cars and more advanced infotainment dashboard systems.

Ford expects to have 125 people working at the new research center in Palo Alto it opened earlier this year. Mercedes-Benz has had a Silicon Valley presence since the 1990s, but expanded into a 3-story, 72,000-square-foot Sunnyvale lab in late 2013. Nissan also expanded into a Sunnyvale building that year.

Honda already had an R&D center dating back to 2000, but described its new facility Thursday as a significant expansion. The company is also testing sensors and other self-driving technology at the former Concord Naval Weapons Station in Contra Costa County.

Other big companies with a local engineering presence are Hyundai, BMV, Volkswagen, Toyota and General Motors, along with parts suppliers such as Delphi Automotive, which is one of several companies permitted to test self-driving cars on California streets.

Apple is also taking an interest in automotive technology, unleashing image-mapping vehicles across U.S. and European cities this summer and reportedly plucking top engineering executives from Mercedes-Benz and Fiat Chrysler.

“Honda recognizes we’re not alone in this space. All of our competitors are touting their operations in the Valley,” said Frank Paluch, the company’s R&D president for the Americas.

He said the increasing attention is a “tremendous opportunity” for competition and collaboration that improves safety and driver experiences with new technology, “be it from Honda, Ford, Tesla or Apple, or some young inventor no one’s ever heard of.”

Contact Matt O’Brien at 408-920-5011. Follow him at Twitter.com/Mattoyeah.