Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Nokia is reported that the company has sold HERE mapping service for a figure of $3.07 billion USD to German auto consortium which consists of Audi AG, BMW Group as well as Daimler AG. The deal is expected to finalize in the first quarter of 2016 with profit of about $2.75 Billion.

One of the reasons that can be concluded on why the automakers are willing to purchase the service as such a huge amount is that they are expected to use the data generated from it for the cars that they are developing so that the cars can navigate themselves based on the data. The mapping service also expected to be available across multiple platforms.

With the deal went through successfully, Nokia is expected to concentrate on the bought over of Alcatel-Lucent which after this is finalized, it will make Nokia a world leading network technology and services business as well as licensing and innovation of Nokia Technologies as mentioned by Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

HERE is reported to receive about $606 million USD and had an operating profit of $30.7 million USD during the first half of 2015. This is definitely is a good news as the service suffered a loss in 2014. According to the last year’s report, the service received about $1.07 billion USD and written off certain things out of goodwill which cost about $1.33 billion USD and thus the company made an operating loss of $1.36 billion.

Moving forward, Nokia is expected to design and license smartphones in 2016 as per the agreement with Microsoft.

Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

First Autonomous Semi-Truck by Daimler Arrived in Nevada

The first self-driving semi-truck, Freightliner Inspiration Truck, manufactured by German automaker Daimler, arrived in Nevada, atop the curved concrete edge of Hoover Dam. It will be the first autonomous truck in the world. The vehicle was built based on Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 which drove on the autobahn last year and it has covered more than 10,000 autonomous miles, according to Daimler.

Furthermore, Daimler also mentioned that it is incorrect to refer the autonomous semi-truck as driverless truck in terms of on-highway commercial trucks. The human driver is still present inside the truck and he or she requires having a qualified commercial driver’s license in the cab and on the gauges. The human driver is required to take over when the self-driving truck technology cannot do make it on its own, like during occasion when it needs to pass or change lanes or bad weather.

After study by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2012, the result is that about 333,000 large trucks were involved in traffic crashes in the U.S itself. It is supported by a study on Drowsy Driving by Harvard School of Medicine in 2009 which concluded that truck drivers often suffered from chronically sleep deprived. As a result in 2014, the trucking industry has about 35,000 driver positions vacant.

Currently the Daimler’s autonomous truck is only licensed in one state which is Nevada, which means it is only allow transporting goods within the state.

First Autonomous Semi-Truck by Daimler Arrived in Nevada