A bidding war is brewing between Germany’s Big Three and Uber for a controlling interested in Nokia’s Here mapping service. And as Uber goes from glorified ride-sharing company to mover of all the things, it’s going to be a key technology to get them there.
Following yesterday’s news of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz teaming up to purchase Here, the New York Times reports that Uber is now making a bid of up to $3 billion for the mapping service.
Uber currently uses Google Maps, which has 10 times more users than Here, but the ride-sharing service doesn’t want to rely on another company’s technology when it’s so vital to its plans to expand.
Nokia is expected to announce who gets Here by the end of the month.
Contact the author at damon@jalopnik.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: 7301 D7FC 2FF6 D437 E5A7 0568 3A14 624A 1800 4C85