Here, the mapping and location services company owned by Audi, BMW and Daimler, is getting a new partner and investor. Chipmaker Intel has confirmed that it is taking a 15 percent stake in the business, which it will use to develop autonomous positioning systems.
The companies are not disclosing the value of the stake, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. At Here’s sale price in 2015, the stake would be worth $390 million in today’s currency.
“Cars are rapidly becoming some of the world’s most intelligent, connected devices,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO, in a statement.
“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, 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, Here CEO, in a statement. “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.”
With the Here investment, the plan is to design and deliver proof-of-concept architecture to improve driving safety and predictability. Intel said it will eventually offer it to other carmakers.
Last week, Singapore’s GIC, Tencent and NavInfo agreed to take a 10% stake of Here as well.
