Ride-hailing company Uber is willing to pay up to $3 billion for HERE, a Nokia-owned mapping service that competes with Google Maps, the New York Times reports.

据《纽约时报》报道，租车服务公司Uber有意以30亿美元收购诺基亚旗下的地图服务HERE，后者与谷歌地图一直在竞争。

Nokia, a Finnish company you probably best know for itstrademark and stubbornly infectious ringtone, is undergoing a highly transformative shift. Once a leading smartphone maker¹, it’s now focusing networking hardware business. The biggest sign of that shift: Nokia sold its handset division to Microsoft for more than $7 billion last year. So it makes sense for Nokia to want to unload its mapping unit, for which it could earn a pretty penny while also increasing the company’s focus.

芬兰公司诺基亚留给人们最深的印象，可能是它的商标和熟悉的手机铃声。该公司正在经历大规模的转型，这家曾经的手机巨头如今正专注于网络硬件业务。最大转型标志是，公司在去年以70亿美元的价格将手机部门卖给了微软。所以，诺基亚想要出售地图部门也不难理解，这不仅能给公司带来一大笔资金，还能提高公司的专注度。

But why would Uber want a mapping company? Two reasons.

不过Uber为何想买一家地图公司？原因有二。

Ride-hailing company Uber is willing to pay up to $3 billion for HERE, a Nokia-owned mapping service that competes with Google Maps, the New York Times reports.

据《纽约时报》报道，租车服务公司Uber有意以30亿美元收购诺基亚旗下的地图服务HERE，后者与谷歌地图一直在竞争。

Nokia, a Finnish company you probably best know for itstrademark and stubbornly infectious ringtone, is undergoing a highly transformative shift. Once a leading smartphone maker, it’s now focusing networking hardware business. The biggest sign of that shift: Nokia sold its handset division to Microsoft for more than $7 billion last year. So it makes sense for Nokia to want to unload its mapping unit, for which it could earn a pretty penny while also increasing the company’s focus.

芬兰公司诺基亚留给人们最深的印象，可能是它的商标和熟悉的手机铃声。该公司正在经历大规模的转型，这家曾经的手机巨头如今正专注于网络硬件业务。最大转型标志是，公司在去年以70亿美元的价格将手机部门卖给了微软。所以，诺基亚想要出售地图部门也不难理解，这不仅能给公司带来一大笔资金，还能提高公司的专注度。

But why would Uber want a mapping company? Two reasons.

不过Uber为何想买一家地图公司？原因有二。

Uber为什么要砸30亿重金买诺基亚地图

Uber’s backend systems are powered by Google Maps. When you load up Uber’s app and drop a pin for a pickup², that’s Google Maps. When your driver is following GPS directions to your destination, that’s Google Maps too. Uber’s recent moves into shipping³ packages rather than people signal it’s interested in becoming more of a full-on logistics company, akin⁴ more to UPS than your local yellow cab service. For Uber, having its own mapping unit would reduce its dependence⁵ on another company — Google — while it continues to evolve.

Uber的后台系统由谷歌地图支持。当你加载Uber应用，并标示搭车地点时，用的就是谷歌地图。当你的司机按照GPS指示前往目的地时，用的也是谷歌地图。Uber最近将重心转向递送包裹而不是乘客，体现出他们有兴趣成为一家全方位的物流公司——类似于UPS那种，而不是一家出租车公司。对Uber而言，拥有自己的地图部门，可以让公司在不断演变发展的同时，减少对谷歌的依赖。

There’s another factor at play here, too. Uber executives haven’t been shy about their fondness for driverless cars; the company is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University to work on the technology. After all, robots don’t strike for higher wages, nor do they assault passengers.

还有另一个因素是：Uber的高管从不避讳他们对自动驾驶汽车的热爱。公司正与卡耐基梅隆大学合作研发这项技术。毕竟，机器是不会为了索要更高薪水而罢工的，它们也不会殴打乘客。

Driverless cars need two things to work. The first is on-car sensors⁶, which constantly monitor for changing road conditions that require an immediate⁷ response, like pedestrians⁸ and stop signs. The second is maps, which tell the car where to go on a bigger scale. For driverless cars to be feasible, the maps that power them have to be updated constantly. Imagine a driverless car doesn’t know that construction means a bridge is out, for instance: Dead end. Acquiring HERE, then, would help Uber more quickly realize a future where driverless cars get us all from A to B without us batting an eyelash.

无人驾驶汽车运行离不开两样东西。一样是车载感应器，它能实时监控行人或停车信号等需要立即反应的路况。另外一样则是地图，它能纵览全局，告诉汽车该走哪条路。要使无人驾驶汽车成为现实，后端支持的地图需要不断地更新。设想一下，假如一辆无人驾驶汽车不知道前方有座桥已经不能走了，就会走进死路。收购HERE以后，Uber就能更快地实现自动驾驶汽车的未来，人们不必双眼一眨不眨地盯着路况就能从A地来到B地了。