A group of German premium car makers has agreed to purchase Nokia HERE, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The deal is expected to extend the reach of digital services that the group of German car makers offer for connected cars.
The consortium, which consists of Daimler, BMW, and Audi, has agreed to acquire Nokia's mapping business for close to €2.9 billion, or $3.2 billion, one of the people told Reuters.
Venture Beat added that car makers were eager to buy the mapping technology, as tech giants are increasing their investments in smart cars.
Reuters adds that Daimler, BMW and Audi want to become service providers to add to their offerings and build a relationship with their customers. Google and Apple have created new transport businesses that are attracting customers.
Traditional car makers will need to be able to offer better car technology to the consumers for them to stay competitive in the market.
Reuters also adds that self-driving cars linked to wireless networks will rely on the intelligent mapping systems to perform their intelligent functions.
Intelligent mapping systems are expected to provide self-driving cars with the ability to recalculate a route to avoid traffic jams and accidents that are detected. They will also be expected to detect collisions in the future.
Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas told Reuters that the automation and connected car services is estimated to become a $50 billion market.
Nokia's sale of its mapping business is part of the strategic review, that it announced last April, of its navigation business, according to a report from Reuters.
The sale will help Nokia focus on its telecommunications equipment. The company is working on integrating Alcatel-Lucent, the company it bought last month, to its business.
Reuters adds that the two people familiar with the matter said the deal could be announced as early as Monday.
