Report: Uber Is Bidding for Nokia’s Here Mapping Unit

The New York Times is reporting that Uber has bid up to $3 billion for Nokia’s Here mapping unit.

According to the report, Uber is up against a consortium of the Chinese search engine Bauidu and German automakers, as well as an undisclosed private equity firm.

Uber’s sky-high $40 billion valuation will no doubt appear attractive to Nokia, as it offers it an opportunity to hitch its wagon to a growing transportation service that also has its eyes on becoming a logistics company.

Here is the primary competitor to Google Maps, and has an 80 percent marketshare of car GPS systems. It is considered superior to Apple’s widely used yet unreliable iOS mapping app. Finland-based Nokia is seeking to sell the mapping unit in order to focus on its wireless networking services. It completed the sale of its handset unit to Microsoft in April of 2014.