New owners of HERE pledge to keep it an open system

The HERE consortium of Audi, BMW and Daimler has unveiled its plans to speed the deliver of real time maps to businesses and consumers across the globe.

On December 4th Nokia announced it had completed the sale of its HERE digital mapping and location services business to the consortium €2.8 billion. HERE makes HD maps and combines them with cloud technology to gives users instant, augmented location experiences (i.e. more context about the environment they are in at any given time) on connected devices ranging from smartphones and tablets to cars, lorries and wearable gadgets.

The car manufacturers that now own HERE said that its long-term commitment is to serve as an open location platform accessible to all customers, even outside the car industry, who want to use the power of location. HERE said it aims to strengthen its market position in the automotive sector and expand its consumer and enterprise businesses through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

HERE will have three main strategic objects, it said: smarter urban mobility for people, the evolution of the car and creating a new era of transport.

“The map is evolving into a live representation of the world, giving us a second-by-second view of our cities and road networks,” said Sean Fernback, the President of HERE. “Now we have the backing of three automotive companies which share our view that this map will be life-changing for people: it will power location services that improve mobility for people and enterprises, make driving safer and more enjoyable, and reduce emissions.”

Human mobility will be improved, it said, by blending dynamic data from different sources to create comprehensive, dynamic maps and relevant information to the masses so they can make more successful journeys and discover more. Car users will benefit from high definition live maps, cloud-based vehicle sensor processing and new embedded and companion experiences. HERE said it will create precise, highly contextual and individually tailored guidance for vehicles as they become increasingly automated and autonomous.

Meanwhile the transport sector could benefit from a nerve centre of intelligence for cities and governments through HERE’s new system of with Co-operative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS). HERE said it plans to help organisations analyse their own data with location context to obtain new insights and make better decisions that could boost their productivity.

Visit the world’s largest & most comprehensive IoT event in Silicon Valley, May 10-12 2016