Computer chip company, Intel has announced to acquire a 15% ownership stake in HERE, a global provider of digital maps and location-based services for automotive and the Internet of Things (IoT). HERE was owned by Finnish phone maker, Nokia until 2015, which was later procured by a consortium representing Germany’s car industry for about $3.07 billion to foster their navigation systems.
“Cars are rapidly becoming some of the world’s most intelligent, connected devices. We look forward to working with HERE and its automotive partners to deliver an important technology foundation for smart and connected cars of the future,” said Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel.
A scalable architecture for real-time updates
In conjunction with Intel’s acquisition of a stake in HERE, the two companies also signed an agreement to collaborate on the research and development of a highly scalable architecture that supports real-time updates of high definition (HD) maps for highly and fully automated driving.
The architecture HERE and Intel plan to deliver is aimed to help make autonomous driving as safe and predictable as possible. According to the duo, today’s navigation technology can pinpoint a car’s location to within meters, but next generation, HD mapping supports localization to within centimeters. This will help vehicles precisely position themselves on the roadway to enable reliable autonomous driving functionality.
“A real-time, self-healing and high-definition representation of the physical world is critical for autonomous driving, and achieving this will require significantly more powerful and capable in-vehicle compute platforms,” said Edzard Overbeek, CEO, HERE.
“As a premier silicon provider, Intel can help accelerate HERE’s ambitions in this area by supporting the creation of a universal, always up-to-date digital location platform that spans the vehicle, the cloud and everything else connected,” Overbeek added.
HERE HD Live Map, HERE’s cloud service supporting vehicle automation, claims to give vehicles the ability to “see” obstacles beyond their immediate field of vision and receive real-time updates as environments change due to traffic, road conditions and other factors.
Additionally, the two companies plan to jointly explore strategic opportunities that result from enriching edge-computing devices with location data.
Intel has also announced to work with AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG to test the architecture.
Transaction Details and Timing
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, after obtaining regulatory approvals. Intel will nominate Doug Davis, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Automated Driving Group (ADG), Intel, to HERE’s Supervisory Board of directors once the transaction is completed.