Nokia Reportedly Selling Mapping Business to Mercedes, BMW and Audi
It might sound like a crazy idea, but the big German luxury automakers may be teaming up to buy some serious tech from Nokia.
Audi, Mercedes and BMW are looking to join forces and purchase Nokia’s mapping business, called HERE, in order to beef up their navigation offerings and provide upcoming connected cars with the most up-to-date maps as possible. This is said to be a necessary component when it comes to making the smart, connected cars of the future and is likely a major building block for autonomous vehicles, too.
According to Automotive News, the agreement could be reached as soon as next week.
Nokia has been looking to sell its mapping division for a while now, and some reports have pegged an asking price as high as $4-billion.
Currently, about 80 percent of cars in North America and Europe use mapping information provided by Nokia HERE, giving the automakers an extra edge as the leading candidate to buy the business.
[Source: Automotive News]
Sami has an unquenchable thirst for car knowledge and has been at AutoGuide for the past six years. He has a degree in journalism and media studies from the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto and has won multiple journalism awards from the Automotive Journalist Association of Canada. Sami is also on the jury for the World Car Awards.
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Yahoo Maps, powered by Nokia's Here Maps is my favorite map. Because it is the only map that still works even when your cookies are disabled. maps.yahoo is still alive, but you gotta type "/b" at the end of the address