Audi, BMW & Daimler buy Nokia’s HERE mapping in £2 billion deal

German premium car makers Audi, BMW and Daimler have bought Nokia’s HERE digital mapping business to secure access in a £2 billion deal.

Mapping services are becoming more and more integrated in cars, not just for Sat Nav but for stuff like clever suspension that adjusts to suit the roads its on and, even more crucially, for autonomous cars to function at all.

That’s why the three big premium German car-makers have formed an alliance to buy Nokia’s HERE digital mapping business, in a move that will stop others buying it and restricting access to competitors and make HERE mapping available to all customers, not just from the automotive sector.

The input of the new HERE owners to the further development – and efficacy – of the HERE data will be significant – in a hands-off way – as they will be able to provide anonymised data to HERE from sensors on their cars so there will be almost instant updates on stuff like traffic jams, ice, road hazards, accidents and much more.

Audi’s Ulrich Hackenberg said:

HERE will be able to offer users a continuously improving product, bringing highly automated driving and location based services a step further. As the volume of anonymized data from the vehicles increases, services will become more convenient, more connected and further tailored to the users’ individual requirements.

The German trio’s aim was to secure HERE as an independent provider of mapping and location services, and build on their offerings in more than 200 countries. This deal looks to have achieved that.

The Audi, BMW and Daimler deal to secure HERE will conclude in the first quarter of 2016.