Apple has reportedly taken yet another mapping and navigation company based in Bay Area – Coherent Navigation founded in the year 2008, into its location service team.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the iPhone maker confirmed the acquisition in an email to the New York Times. The company is yet to reveal the financial details of the deal.
Coherent Navigation is the latest in the list of Apple's mapping related acquisitions in the recent years, including Broadmap, C3 Technologies, Locationary, Pin Drop, Embark, PlaceBase, Hopstop, Poly9 and WifiSLAM, in a bid to improve its mapping and location services.
CEO Paul Lego has listed that he has been working with Apple since January, in his LinkedIn profile, while co-founders Brett Ledvina and William Bencze have joined the mapping team back in April. Lego was the former CEO of Dash Navigation, a startup which was snapped up by BlackBerry in 2009.
It is not clear if the other employees from the GPS startup have also joined the iPhone maker’s team. Following the acquisition, Coherent Navigation’s domain has been redirected to the Cupertino’s servers, as first noted by Mac Rumors.
Apple, however, is still connected to Nokia’s HERE mapping service. According to the reports, the acquisition is likely focused on the electric car with self-driving functionality that is reportedly being tested, as precise navigation tools will be required.
Coherent Navigation develops high-precision navigation service that combines GPS data with Iridium satellite communications constellation’s data, for more accurate tracking. The company has been involved with many U.S. government projects, such as offering GPS data to the Defense Department.
The acquisition comes in time with a major revamp of Apple’s mapping service, as the next update is expected to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference to be held in June.