Conti May Buy Stake in HERE Digital-Mapping Firm

Continental AG is negotiating to buy as much as 10% of HERE, the digital mapping company majority owned by BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen, sources tell Manager Magazin.

HERE is developing extremely precise maps that can be used to guide self-driving vehicles. The German magazine says the Conti investment is likely to be finalized in September. Conti has not commented on the report.

The three German carmakers spent €2.8 billion in 2015 to buy HERE from Finland’s Nokia telecom giant. Last year they were joined by several Asian investors. In January Intel Corp. bought a 15% stake in the company to help it establish a cloud-based trove of digital maps that are updated in real time.