While most Indian commuters reach for their smartphones to navigate daily traffic, the most critical data guiding their journey often comes from a company they’ve never heard of. HERE Technologies, a global titan in the mapping and location industry, may not be a household name in the B2C space, but has quietly become the ‘brain’ behind the scenes of India’s rapidly evolving automotive landscape.
In a recent conversation, Deon Newman, senior vice-president and general manager for Asia Pacific at HERE Technologies, revealed that while the company’s consumer visibility might seem limited, its operational footprint in India is massive.
India: The brain of global mapping
“Our brain is in India,” Newman said, pointing to a workforce of over 3,500 employees – mostly based in Mumbai. “These teams aren’t just handling back-office support; they are developing global maps, building sophisticated navigation software, and managing the data processing that powers vehicles in 186 countries.”
Despite being a global leader, HERE operates primarily in the B2B sector. If you ride one of India’s top-tier two-wheelers, there is a 75% chance you are using their technology. Newman confirmed that three of the four largest two-wheeler companies in India are currently integrated with HERE’s location services.
Navigating regulatory hurdles
The absence of a ‘HERE’ app on every Indian smartphone is partly by design and partly due to the country’s complex regulatory environment. Stringent rules regarding high-definition (HD) map capture – a core strength for HERE’s autonomous driving and ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) programmes – have presented challenges.
To navigate this, HERE is doubling down on local partnerships. “We are working with Genesys International to tackle distracted driving through next-generation navigation,” Newman said. “We have also integrated India Post’s DigiPin system into our processes. DigiPin assigns a unique 10-character alphanumeric code to 4m x 4m grids across India, bringing pinpoint accuracy to logistics and emergency services in areas that previously lacked formal addresses.”
The Uber factor and global reach
One of the most significant boosts to HERE’s Indian operations has come from its partnership with Uber. By processing Uber’s massive stream of traffic probes, HERE has seen a 450% increase in traffic performance in India over the last 12 months. This real-time data is then fed back into products used by partners like Genesys to improve market delivery.
The company’s influence also extends to the global ambitions of regional players. Vinfast, the Vietnamese EV maker with significant plans for the Indian market, uses HERE maps as its default partner worldwide. In China, HERE works with AMAP (AutoNavi), which holds an 80% market share, ensuring that when Chinese brands go global, they do so on a HERE-powered foundation.
Are India maps detailed enough?
Addressing concerns about whether HERE’s Indian maps lag behind Western counterparts in detail, Newman was candid. While HD capture limitations exist, he insisted that HERE’s urban and highway maps are as detailed as any in the world. However, he admitted that in remote rural areas, there is still work to be done to match the granularity found in cities.
The era of the ‘live map’
When asked about the future of the industry, Newman’s vision was clear: live maps. The goal is to move beyond simple traffic updates to a world where every road change, hazard, and environmental factor is updated in real-time. As India’s infrastructure expands at breakneck speed, the ability to reflect those changes instantly will be the next frontier in the race to map the world.
