Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Thursday it was
hiring 400 engineers, mostly in Canada, to work on connectivity software and
hardware, part of a wider push to meet demand for more connected cars.
The 300 engineers in Canada and 100 in the
United States will double the current size of the Detroit automaker's mobile
connectivity engineering team. The company said it also plans to establish a
new research and engineering center in Ottawa, Canada.
Connectivity is a key investment area for the
auto industry as in-car technology catches up to that of smartphones. As more
modems are built directly into cars, vehicles are able to access a richer array
of digital services. Ford plans to equip 20 million cars with built-in modems
in the next five years.
The new hires, many of whom are coming from
BlackBerry Ltd's (BB.TO) shuttered handset business, will work on infotainment,
in-vehicle modems, gateway modules, handset integration, security, driver
assist features and autonomous vehicles, Ford said.
The move by the Detroit carmaker underscores
how many new jobs in the auto sector are for white-collar technology jobs
related to connectivity, mobility or autonomous vehicles, versus traditional
factory jobs.
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