In order to combat slowing automotive sales in China, Ford has announced today that it's investing $1.8 billion (that's 11.4 billion yuan) to bring a new generation of smart cars into the country. The money will go toward developing technologies such as smartphone connectivity, self-driving vehicles and enhancing in-car mobile chat functions, which should prove especially useful in China's notoriously congested traffic. Ford has already been investing heavily in the car tech space stateside, so it's looking to transfer some of that knowhow to its Chinese market in order to stand out in the crowded automotive space.