Microsoft And Amazon Have A Plan For Driverless Cars

Microsoft And Amazon Have A Plan For Driverless Cars

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Amazon.com and Microsoft are in talks to supply cloud computing to digital mapping business HERE, owned by a group of German carmakers developing self-driving cars, sources familiar with the matter said.

Amazon is also considering becoming a shareholder in HERE, two sources said.

Last year, carmakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes struck a 2.5 billion euro ($2.85 billion) deal to buy Nokia’s HERE maps business.

Intelligent mapping systems supply information to control self-driving cars, which are equipped with street-scanning sensors to measure traffic and road conditions. This location data can in turn be shared with other map users.

“Amazon would take a stake as part of a broader deal to lock them in as a provider of cloud computing services,” one source familiar with the talks said.

“Microsoft is also interested in closer ties to HERE,” another source familiar with the talks said.

Microsoft declined to comment. Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.

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