BMW and other carmakers team up to take on Waze and Google Maps

A company formerly owned by Nokia wants to create a more accurate, up-to-the-minute map of traffic conditions.

The key? Getting multiple automakers to pool traffic data collected by their cars’ sensors. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz will all contribute to the realtime map, a first for the navigation and auto industries — but the collaboration shouldn't come as a huge surprise, since the automakers teamed up to buy the company, HERE, back in 2015.

The company says data collected by the connected vehicles about their surroundings will lead to "significantly higher accuracy and more precise information about traffic conditions" than other services like Google Maps and Waze, which depend on satellite data and user reports for their traffic maps.

HERE already has a fleet of millions of connected cars spanning 60 countries to gather data from. That’s expected to grow as new cars with sensor systems hit the roads, making it all the more likely an area will be covered by a connected vehicle.

The company also expects to bring automakers from outside of its ownership group into the fold, although that might be easier said than done.

While the improved traffic data will be available in 60 countries, 30 of them will offer more in-depth features, like detailed incident information and safety notifications, which are triggered by hard-breaking sensor data.

The traffic maps will be offered to companies focused on creating advanced driver-assisted systems for now — but the data could be even more valuable to self-driving carmakers, both to train their autonomous systems and to help them direct themselves once they hit the road.