BMW, Daimler AG, Audi acquire ‘Here’ mapping service from Nokia

Nokia will sell its mapping and location service, ‘Here’ to three German automakers, namely, BMW, Daimler AG and Audi for 2.8 billion Euros (AU$4.2 billion). The deal is likely to materialize in the first quarter of 2016, according to reports.

The three auto companies may have purchased the service from Nokia in an attempt to compete with search engine giant Google, which is aggressively working towards its own self driving cars, reports Forbes. BMW, Audi and Daimler have consistently shown willingness to buy ‘Here’ in order to equip their respective self-driving car project with one the world’s most reliable mapping services. Some unconfirmed reports also suggest that mobile ride hailing app company Uber, too was considering buying the mapping service from Nokia.

"With this step we complete the latest stage of Nokia's transformation. We integrated the former Nokia Siemens Networks, divested our Devices & Services business and have now reached agreement on a transaction for HERE that we believe is the best path forward for our shareholders, as well as the customers and employees of HERE,” said Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

With this acquisition, the three auto makers aim to equip their auto products with the next generation of navigation that will allow cars to collect data, which will enable sharing real-time updates on traffic and parking. Most importantly, these accurate mapping services will be important to detect where the self driving cars are going, reports CNET.

Though ‘Here’ is available in the form of maps apps on Android, iOS and Windows Phone, the company gets a large chunk of business from licensing mapping data to other companies, especially in the automotive sector. Here is working on a technology that will draw information from cars, smartphones and the furniture of the road to the cloud and give forth real time and predictive mapping services.

Here has a headcount of 6,000 workers working out of its 200 offices and it is yet to be known, if the three companies will restructure ‘Here’ or not. Rajeev Suri of Nokia explained that from now on the company will prepare to merge with Alcatel-Lucent, which Nokia had purchased for $16.6 billion earlier this year, according to the Forbes report.

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