The largest automakers plan to buy Nokia HERE

German car manufacturers BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi have announced plans to purchase HERE online card service from Nokia. At the same time, the Chinese company Baidu showed interest in purchasing the service, the most famous product of which is the search engine of the same name. The transaction value is estimated at more than $ 2 billion, writes The Wall Street Journal. Automakers are going to purchase Nokia service as a single consortium, and not individual companies.

The fact is that Nokia HERE is optimally suited for robotic vehicles. In the interests of the concern - buying a service so that it is not bought by Google, or Facebook or Apple. According to representatives of the automotive industry, if a corporation makes an OS for smart cars for free, this could become a threat to the traditional auto industry.

The deal itself is gradually moving forward, and now the parties to the agreement are at one of the final stages of discussion. A deal between carmakers and Nokia may close in the next two weeks.

The Finnish company announced its intention to sell its mapping service after it acquired the assets of the French company Alcatel-Lucent.

Interestingly, HERE now plans to use Facebook in its applications and services. Already, the social network is testing Nokia online maps in Messenger, Instagram and other resources.