Amazon And Microsoft Reportedly Want To Be Big Data Players For Self-Driving Cars

Google and reportedly, Apple, aren't the only tech companies wanting a slice of the budding autonomous vehicle market.

Reuters is reporting that Amazon and Microsoft are in negotiations to supply cloud computing to HERE, a digital mapping company owned by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, each of which is in the self-driving development space. The three German luxury automakers bought HERE for $2.85 billion last year, and Amazon in particular is even reportedly considering buying into the company.

"Amazon would take a stake as part of a broader deal to lock them in as a provider of cloud computing services," a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters.

Another source added: "Microsoft is also interested in closer ties to HERE."

BMW additionally said in a statement to Reuters: "The new owners Audi, Daimler and BMW have said from the start that they are open for new partners to join. We have noticed that there is lots of interest not only from potential partners from within the automotive industry, but also from other sectors."

HERE's mapping systems feed real-time information used to control autonomous vehicles. That mapping, along with self-driving vehicles' sensors, work together to analyze roads and traffic, while reacting to unforeseen events in real-time. The location data that HERE generates can also be shared among other map users.

Reuters says Ford, Renault and automotive supplier Continental could also purchase stakes of HERE, with the latter company having told the news agency Thursday that it will make its decision whether to invest in the mapping business within the next few months.

Amazon and Microsoft supplying cloud computing to HERE could be a welcomed activity, considering the other uphill challenges that companies in autonomous vehicle development are facing.

Earlier this week, Reuters cited a U.S. Department of Transportation estimation of about 65 percent of the country's roads being in poor condition. That could pave the way for self-driving vehicles to struggle to read poor lane markings.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously touched on the subject, calling faded lane markings "crazy" for his semi-autonomous vehicles to comprehend and maneuver within.

"If the lane fades, all hell breaks loose," Christoph Mertz, a research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, told Reuters just earlier this week. "But cars have to handle these weird circumstances and have three different ways of doing things in case one fails."

Not an enviable task.