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Intel acquires 15% of Here to aid autonomous vehicle development
Date: 05 January 2017 | Author: Daniel Puddicombe
Computer giant Intel has acquired a 15% stake in digital mapping service Here for an undisclosed sum.
Here is jointly owned by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz after they bought out previous owner Nokia for £2bn in August 2015.
As part of the acquisition, the companies said they would collaborate and research systems that offers real-time updates of maps for autonomous vehicles.
According to the firms, the new systems will make autonomous driving as safe and as predictable as possible. At present, mapping technology can locate a car to within metres of its actual location, but Intel and Here said its new software would pinpoint a car's location down to a few centimeters, which would better help cars position themselves on roads.
Intel and Here said they plan to make the systems available across the automotive industry in order to simplify and shorten driverless car developments.
"Cars are rapidly becoming some of the world's most intelligent, connected devices," said Brian Krzanich, Intel's CEO. "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."
"A real-time 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 at 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."
