According to a filing sent to the German cartel office this Tuesday, Intel wants approval to buy a 15% stake of HERE, the former Nokia owned mapping company. The amount to be paid by Intel wasn"t disclosed.
The two firms have also signed an agreement in a move to take on the automated driving trend. The goal is to cooperate on the development of new technologies for real-time updates of high definition maps aimed for use on fully-automated driving.
In the announcement, Intel described the companies" vision for their collaboration:
"The proof-of-concept architecture HERE and Intel plan to deliver will be designed to help make autonomous driving as safe and predictable as possible. For example, today’s navigation technology can pinpoint a car’s location to within meters, but next generation, HD mapping supports localization to within centimeters."
Intel will also work with Audi, BMW, and Daimler to test out the planned architecture with the view to make it more widely available across the automotive market. Of particular benefit for vehicle manufacturers will be decreased development and delivery timeframes.
Furthermore, the agreement also aims to explore opportunities in IoT and machine learning.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.