Just three weeks into his job, Mike Nefkens feels at home at HERE Technologies. He is the former president & CEO of Resideo Technologies (a Honeywell spin-off), and long-time executive at Hewlett-Packard (served as president of HP Enterprise Services, responsible for a $20-billion P&L and 110,000 employees). He says he’s an auto-tech person, and so HERE is just the right place for him.
“I am a huge car guy, and a map aficionado – as I’ve been a commercial pilot and pilots love to play with maps,” he says. “HERE is about both cars and maps, so I couldn’t be more excited.”
Backed by Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Intel, Mitsubishi, NTT, Robert Bosch, Continental and Pioneer, HERE Technologies is a location tech platform, and was recently judged the world’s best by Counterpoint, a market research firm.
“Although it’s just my third week at HERE, I’ve been engaging with customers, team and shareholders for months, and I’m well ahead of the plan,” he says. “We’ve had our best financial year in the last several years, we grew our topline, our profits were good, and we are cash-flow positive, so 2023 was good. We’re entering 2024 with a lot of momentum.”
On autonomous driving
Starting March 2024, BMW’s Personal Pilot Level 3 automated driving function will be available in Germany. The HERE HD Live Map plays a central role in that, providing info about the car’s environment and its route ahead. The same maps helped Mercedes-Benz reach Level 3 autonomous driving in 2021.
Earlier this month, Uber chose HERE maps to drive its mapping and geolocation functionalities, and improve pick-up and drop-off locations.
“It’s a sign we’re winning both with OEMs and ride-sharing companies,” Nefkens says.
On the Indian market
Of HERE’s 6,500 employees, almost half (3,700) work in India. “All the data processing, crunching and managing happens in India,” Nefkens says. “The country is our brain. Going forward, we will focus more on the commercial market in India, challenging local players and providing Indians with the best mapping data.”
On winning customers
Although HERE is backed by nine global corporations, Nefkens says they don’t have any share in profits or any say in managerial appointments. “Last year, we set up an independent governance structure. We now have four supervisory board members and everyone gets one vote. Our owners (the nine corporations) let us work as an independent company, and that’s really important,” he says. “Today, if I approach a Hyundai or a Nissan, the first question they will ask is why should they work with us as we are owned by their competitors? They still do, as we are the best mapping platform in the world, but keeping distance with our owners is a good thing.”
On a HERE IPO?
Over time, HERE Technologies will be a fully independent company. Although Nefkens says an IPO (initial public offering) is not on the cards, the future of HERE is standalone. “I envision us as a standalone company, with the three German automakers as our biggest customers, instead of owners,” he says. “We aim to have a discussion on ‘independence’ over the next three years, and maybe towards the end of this decade we could reach that goal. But it’s just not a priority right now.”
He, however, added that despite Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz being owners of HERE, they don’t get any preference over other customers. “A customer is a customer, and our quality will be high for everybody,” he says.
On maps and sustainability
It’s often argued that location technology can help corporations meet their net zero and sustainability goals. “That’s correct. Location tech can help companies reduce fuel costs and save time, leading to sustainable transportation, and transportation is a big part of carbon emissions,” he says. “An example of this is our new solution called EV Range Factors, which provides carmakers predictive data on EV range and the most efficient route EVs can take.”
HERE EV Range Factors helps improve EV range in three ways:
– Provides road topography data to help an EV understand changes to upcoming road elevation, slope, curvature and roughness;
– Leverages predictive outside ambient temperature data and road surface temperature data that significantly impact EV driving range;
– Incorporates predictive wind speed and direction near the road surface level.
“These may be small things, but we’re incrementally helping the world reach net zero,” Nefkens says. “For instance, the HERE ADAS Map, which powers Daimler Truck’s Predictive Powertrain Control, delivers precise information about the road ahead to determine the most efficient driving style.”
HERE vs Google
Most of us use Google Maps for daily navigation, and even Apple users tend to download Google Maps for their ubiquity. What can a HERE Technologies offer to a corporate that a Google cannot?
Nefkens says both HERE and Google have their strengths. “When you think Google, the first thing that comes to your mind is ‘search’. Nobody can be better at search,” he says. “When it comes to detailed mapping attributes that go beyond infotainment stuff, that’s where we stand out.”
Talking about ‘bridge attributes’, he says HERE maps can tell truck operators where the bridges are, their height, what weight they can carry, the alternate routes if there is a low bridge on the way, what kind of trucks can pass under that bridge, and so on. “That’s just one example of detailed mapping we can provide, and that’s why we are able to solve more use cases than Google, even though they also have maps,” he says. “When it comes to autonomous driving, ADAS or ISA maps, we are years ahead of anybody else.”
3D maps
HERE Technologies is developing high-fidelity, 3D models of more than 100 cities, and also working on indoor mapping. Nefkens says it serves a major purpose. “For future use cases such as drone delivery, we’re mapping heights of buildings and power lines. Our indoor maps will help you easily find your car in a parking lot or a restaurant inside a large hotel,” he says.
On self-driving cars
Purists argue that self-driving cars take the fun away from driving. “Driving is a human skill, and should remain so,” they say. But Nefkens feels that technology intervention will only make driving more fun. “Do you know that planes hit autopilot as soon as they touch 1,000 feet, giving pilots more time to engage with other functions, and maybe stealing a glance at the beautiful world below,” he says. “The same is with self-driving cars. You will have more fun driving, engaging with newer functionalities inside a car, and taking the control of the steering wheel whenever you feel like. It will make driving better, safer, and you will be a highly refreshed driver. Location technology plays the biggest role in self-driving cars.”
