BMW, Audi, Daimler buy Nokia’s mapping unitBMW, Audi and Daimler (Mercedes) have successfully completed their €2.8 billion (£2 billion) joint purchase of Nokia’s Here mapping business. Following an earlier announcement in August, this confirms the acquisition has met with approval from all the relevant authorities.
The premium giants have bought the navigation firm as a key step in their push towards fully autonomous vehicles; Nokia's spin-off gives them access to precise digital maps and real-time vehicle location data, seen as necessary to increase road safety and limit the chances of a collisions amongst driverless cars.
Nokia’s Here is an open-platform, cloud-enhanced navigation system, which already supplies map data for cars in North America and Europe. It uses a combination of 'static' data captured by cars fitted with high-resolution 3D-mapping technology and real-time information supplied by a network of connected devices – including but not limited to cars – in order to provide accurate, up-to-date detail.
Currently Here has access to 80,000 sources, which generate 'billions' of 'probe points' every day. Its acquisition by the German trio is set to increase the number of base sources considerably...
