Self-propelled cars are reliant on accurate maps. With the purchase of the Finnish ministry of Nokia, the carmaker more independent of Google and Apple.
The company Here sits in Berlin. Daimler, Audi and BMW bought the card service by Nokia. | © Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
After weeks of rumors, the business has now been completed: The German carmaker Audi, BMW and Daimler to buy the digital map service Here the telecommunications company Nokia. Cost of the deal with the Finns: about 2.8 billion euros. According to media reports, Nokia had a higher price hoping.
The shares of the map service will be shared equally by the three partners, none of them strives for a majority, as the auto companies mitt rushed. If the competent antitrust authorities approve the deal is expected to close in the first quarter 2016.
The map service Here is the carmaker crucial because in the industry the digitization and autonomous driving are major issues of the future. Self-propelled cars are reliant on highly accurate maps and traffic data. Here will a “key role in the digital revolution of mobility play,” said the BMW Chairman Harald Krüger. “High-precision digital maps are a key building block for future mobility”, informed Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche.
auto companies want more control
He had a few weeks ago – shortly after the announcement of a hacker attack on a jeep – said one of the reasons for the interest of Daimler at Here is the desire to get control of the data material that you need for self-propelled cars.
The German auto companies want to avoid by buying a function of Google and Apple in its core business. Both offer platforms for better integration of smartphones in the car, which largely take over the display of the entertainment system.
In May media reported that interested the three auto companies for the map service. First, there should have been more interested, from Chinese online companies down to the controversial car service Uber intermediaries, the research itself on autonomous vehicles. This left at the end only the German carmaker.
Nokia focuses on its core business
Here is after the acquisition remain independent and offer its services to customers in all industries, also to other automobile manufacturers. The company is based mainly in Berlin and had approximately 6,450 employees in late June.
Nokia sold its mapping service in order to concentrate on its core business as a supplier of telecommunications networks. The company is faced with the acquisition of French rival Alcatel-Lucent to ascend the world’s largest supplier of mobile networks. The business has recently been approved by the European Commission.
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