Audi, BMW and Daimler have agreed to purchase Nokia's digital mapping service Nokia Here for more than 2.5 billion euros, or about $2.73 billion.
Nokia has reportedly been exclusively negotiating with the trio of companies, with maps being seen as a core technology in the development of autonomous cars, which a number of automakers have been working on over the past few years.
According to the reports, the three companies intend to purchase all of Nokia Here, after which they will invite other carmakers to purchase stakes in the company.
"The goal has always been to run the service as an open platform for everyone," said a person familiar with the matter in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "The final signing could take place in the next few days."
The three companies beat out Uber, which was largely expected to purchase Nokia Here but dropped out of bidding a number of weeks ago. Uber is currently dependent on Google Maps, both for its autonomous driving technology and for its app. Despite this, Uber recently purchased part of Microsoft's mapping technology and hired around 100 engineers to help it build its own mapping software, helping it decrease its dependence on Google.
Nokia Here is considered to be a top-quality competitor to the likes of Google Maps, and carmakers will likely bundle Here into their cars as well as use it for their autonomous tech.
Here has proven successful, with Nokia reporting that sales of it went up 25 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2015 to $287 million. Nokia's Here technology was licensed by carmakers for a massive 3.6 million new cars during the first quarter of this year.
Of course, Uber and the three German carmakers were not the only companies interested in purchasing Nokia Here, with Chinese search engine Baidu and Internet portal Tencent having also expressed interest. It's unclear exactly how much these companies offered Nokia for the technology.
Nokia isn't new to selling off components of its business. In 2013, the company sold off its mobile handset business to Microsoft for a massive $7 billion, allowing Nokia to focus on other things like networking operation.
Nokia has not released any statements regarding the sale of its Here mapping technology. However, if this news proves to be true, it is likely that we will see an announcement in the coming weeks. Nokia is reportedly still considering keeping a stake in Here, but details about how much of a stake are unclear.
