Ford plans to double its mobile connectivity engineering team by hiring 400 software developers and hardware engineers. Three-quarters of the new engineers will be part of a Canadian research-and-development centre aimed at building out connected vehicle technology that will eventually let vehicles talk to each other – and the infrastructure around them. Ford is investing about $375 million to establish its new Ottawa Research and Engineering Centre. It is Ford's first Canadian R&D facility focused on connectivity research and advanced technology. The global connected car market will reach $131 billion by 2019, with an annual growth rate of 30% per year, according to Transparency Market Research.