This diversity of devices and transformation of transport requires a quantum leap in location technology. "Mapping 2.0," says Hellmis, "is in the cloud, and is highly precise -- it's centimetre exact, right down to a car knowing what lane it's in."
And not only will a car know where it is and where it's going, but it will take you there too. Hellmis believes that maps are crucial for self-driving cars, which rely on accurate sensors and high-quality map detail to go where they need to. A world of cars that drive off and park themselves is "not too far off... we already have park assist, where you take your hands off the wheel and the car parks itself."
And Hellmis smiles at the fascinating fusion of motoring's past and future that saw a Mercedes S-Class recently drive itself 100-kilometres across Germany to recreate the first long-distance drive by Bertha Benz, wife of motoring pioneer Karl Benz.
'Google is not a location player'
One of the companies working on self-driving cars is Here's biggest rival in the world of maps. But Hellmis dismisses Google as a rival: "Google is not a location player," he argues. "You can't get mapping without adopting the whole ecosystem, Google Now, Google Plus, Google whatever. We don't do that. We want money for our service, we get money for our service. We're very different from an Internet player with an advertising monetisation model."
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