Nokia Partners With Mercedes-Benz on Smart Maps

Nokiaannounced at the Frankfurt Motor Show today that its mapping company, HERE, will team up with Daimler's Mercedes-Benz to develop smart maps for connected and -- eventually -- self-driving vehicles.

Nokia said in a statement that autonomous vehicles will require more specific mapping information, such as the number and direction of lanes on a road, traffic signs, and the coordinates for traffic lights. To show how the two companies will pair up on mapping, Nokia and Mercedes built a 3-D digital map of the route the first Benz Patent-Motorwagen traveled from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany, 125 years ago.

In a press release, Nokia said, "While autonomous vehicles may not hit the streets commercially for several years, automakers and tech innovators alike must already think about the infrastructure and technological requirements needed to support this technology."

The new HERE partnership comes on the heels of Nokia's launching of an offline map feature just last month.

Neither company revealed a timetable for the upcoming smart maps, but Nokia said they "will continue to explore this area together."

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