HERE and Mobileye partner to create mapping services that can be used in self-driving cars, which require high-definition mapping data for navigation
More companies working on autonomous driving have decided to work together to pursue their goals; Nokia mapping spin-out Here is working with Mobileye …
Context & Ripple Effects
HERE — the Nokia mapping spin-out now owned by Audi, BMW, and Daimler — had already laid groundwork by planning to mine anonymized sensor data from its owners' vehicles for next-generation maps. The Mobileye alliance adds a second feed: camera-based road data from Mobileye-equipped cars, merged into HERE's platform rather than kept proprietary.
First-order effects
- Mobileye's crowd-sourced road data gains an automaker-facing distribution channel through HERE's mapping platform, while HERE's HD maps gain fresher, continuously updated coverage without fielding its own survey fleet.
Second-order effects
- The deal makes HERE a hub for autonomous-vehicle alliances beyond mapping — within a year it extends into a telematics product with LG aimed at self-driving cars, deepening its role as neutral infrastructure for competing OEMs.
Third-order effects
- The pattern holds at scale: by 2020 Mobileye is collecting 3.7M miles of sensor data daily to produce HD maps powering partners' Level 2+ driver assistance — evidence that shared, fleet-generated map layers, not proprietary surveying, become the base of the autonomy stack.
The trend: Autonomous driving is consolidating around shared HD-map infrastructure built from crowd-sourced fleet sensor data, with former rivals pooling perception feeds instead of mapping the world alone.