The data will become part of the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform, enabling better insights for the creation of services, engineering decisions, and more. “Our integration with the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform means that automakers can get access to precise and reliable navigation and driving behavior data easily, while of course adhering to privacy principles,” said TomTom chief product officer Cees van Dok in a press release. “This data could, for instance, be used to predict the range of an electric vehicle based on driving behavior and planned route more accurately; or to work out, based on navigation behavior, what connectivity package for online navigation would be best suited for a driver. This is a game-changer.” The information from TomTom also includes traffic information and HD maps for use by car manufacturers in autonomous driving solutions. More generally, the Connected Vehicle Platform is designed to help with predictive maintenance, in-car productivity, advanced navigation, customer insights, and autonomous driving. The expanded partnership with TomTom is likely to aid three of those goals, while integrations of Cortana and Office 365 will aid with the productivity aspect. Microsoft has continually stressed that its platform is one it plans to evolve regularly, and this latest dataset is one example of that. So far, the platform serves manufacturers like Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi. It’s part of Microsoft’s goal to become a services vendor for self-driving cars, rather than following the risky route of direct competition.
