Uber Takes 100 Microsoft Engineers, Mapping Tech

July 6, 2015 - By GPS World Staff

The Uber app.

Microsoft will no longer collect its own map data, according to the website re/code. As part of the change, Microsoft is selling some of its assets to rideshare company Uber, including a data center, cameras, intellectual property and roughly 100 engineers. Uber is also buying a data center near Boulder, Colo.

Microsoft plans to continue to offer Bing Maps using data licensed from partners.

Microsoft already gets much of its map data from Nokia and other partners, but had been collecting its own aerial, 3D and street-level maps. It will now source those images from partners, focusing its Bing Maps work on the user experience that overlays the map data and imagery.

Industry watchers suggest the cameras might soon end up on the roofs of Uber vehicles. Uber already has hundreds of thousands of cars being tracked around the world every day.