Ford has new digs in Silicon Valley, bringing it closer to the action in the burgeoning world of advanced car technologies.

The Dearborn, Mich.-headquartered firm opened the Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Center on Thursday. It’s at this Palo Alto facility the company will work on connectivity, infotainment and self-driving features, bringing Ford up-to-speed in the connected car space.

“We’re increasingly seeing the car being the biggest consumer electronics device you can have,” Raj Nair, Ford CTO and vice president for global product development, told Wired.

A Silicon Valley lab makes sense; it allows for easier hire of top tech talent and puts the company in the backyard of Apple, Google, Nvidia and NASA, to name a few. Google and Apple have launched connected car initiatives, and it is not a stretch for Ford to forge relationships with one or more of these companies.

Ford plans to assemble about 125 software and user engineers along with other department hires at the center before the year is up, making it one of the largest automotive facilities in the area.

Twenty-five “mobility experiments” are on tap for the Silicon Valley hub; they include 4G-connected remote-controlled cars, tech to find open parking spaces, a car-sharing program for Ford workers and even a dashboard system to control a home’s Nest thermometer.

Improved voice recognition is one of the center’s primary focuses.

Despite its ambition, many competitors are already lapping Ford. Firms like Audi, BMW, GM and Toyota have been in the Valley for years and are already making headway on much the same things Ford plans to research.

Being tardy doesn’t seem to phase Ford, though, and the company is committed to not only solving transportation woes but also building a business model for the 21st Century.