HERE – Data odyssey.

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Car makers sharing data is the real story. 

• HERE has begun its strategy to increasingly automate and imrpove transport but the most impressive feature so far is the fact that the 3 owners of HERE are sharing their data with each other.
• Far more data than has been historically available is being used to create 4 new services that should be deeper, richer and more useful than any that have gone before.
• These are:
  • First: HERE real-time traffic.
  • This takes probe data that typically provides traffic information and combines it with sensor data such as braking to provide more detail with regards to what is really happening on the road.
  • Using data from BMW, Audi and Daimler cars will reveal more information such as when some lanes are blocked while others are moving to give the driver better information upon which to base decisions.
  • Second: HERE Hazard Warnings.
  • This uses data from sensors such as impact, brakes and cameras to allow the driver to anticipate hazards rather than be forced to react to them.
  • Third: HERE Road signs.
  • This uses vehicle cameras to detect temporary and permanent changes to street signs that can improve assisted driving systems as well as warn the driver with regard to road changes and hazards.
  • Fourth: HERE On-Street parking.
  • This uses predicative statistics as well as data from the ignition to estimate where parking is most likely to be available and for how long the driver can expect to spend looking for parking.
• These services are the first step in an odyssey to create fully autonomous driving but I think that the real story here is that they all use shared data from competing car makers.
• Given that only a small percentage of cars on the road are connected, the initial appeal of these services will be small at first but it is the intent that they signal that is so significant.
• This is the first time that car makers have allowed what they consider to be highly proprietary information to be shared with their competitors.
• This is crucial because the opportunity created by sharing this kind of data is much greater for all involved but getting old fashioned companies to embrace this concept has been a real struggle.
• As more companies sign up and agree to share their anonymised data the opportunity for everybody involved will continue to rapidly increase.
• Furthermore, HERE and its partners will have exclusive access to this data giving them insights that neither Apple or Google will be able to replicate.
• This how the automotive industry may be able to fight off the threat that Apple and particularly Google represent to their brands as digital services become more and more important.
• I have had concerns with regards to data sharing within the HERE consortium (see here) and this announcement goes quite some way to alleviating that concern.
• If HERE can also make its partners feel that all stakeholders are being fairly treated then it will have really improved its chances of creating a location platform with long term differentiation.
• Google Maps faces none of these problems as users of Google Maps tend to agree to share their data with Google and there is only one stake holder in the operation.
• This is why it is essential that the car makers prevent Google from sucking out all their data through Android Auto because this would really damage their (and HERE’s) long term differentiation.
• HERE has an opportunity to be every bit as good (or even better) than Google Maps but success depends on openness, trust and commitment between its owners and partners.
• So far, HERE is doing well at fostering all of these attributes and I see its chances of success continuing to improve.