New HERE platform will collect driving data from millions of cars

This post was originally published on our sister site Charged.io, your destination for modern transportation news.

When Nokia sold HERE maps to BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen last year, we doubt they imagined something like the Open Location Platform. In conjunction with the already powerful navigation tool that is now called HERE WeGo, the automotive companies are adding detailed live traffic info to the software.

Coming in 2017, HERE will compete with services like Waze to provide drivers with detailed traffic information. Where Waze generally relies on user input, however, HERE will track things like vehicle location, speeds and even multiple sensors within the car to provide a more accurate perspective of the road conditions ahead.

It is not hard to imagine the power of the HERE Open Location Platform once it is enabled on many cars by these automakers. Instead of simply tracking the location and speed of cars on the road, it can register when the brakes have been activated, indicating a slowdown, or when a vehicle’s wipers are running, a good indicator of wet conditions. Obviously, the more cars that are equipped with the service, the more accurate the data can become. There is no word yet how much data will be extrapolated from those simply using the HERE WeGo app on their Android phone.

Navigation today, autonomy tomorrow

There is the long term goal with HERE Open Location Platform to support and lead to more and better assisted driver systems, and even self-driving initiatives. While we wait, any help avoiding a traffic jam on the roads is extremely helpful, so we look forward to seeing where HERE gets to.