(Bloomberg) -- BMW AG, Audi AG and Daimler AG will buy NokiaOyj’s digital-map unit for 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion) to gaintechnology for connected cars that will eventually be the basis forself-driving vehicles.

The world’s three largest makers of luxury cars will eachacquire an equal share of Nokia’s HERE division, and thetransaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter ofnext year, they said Monday. Nokia said its net proceeds on thesale will total slightly more than 2.5 billion euros.

While there has previously been limited cooperation on autoparts, a joint acquisition on this scale involving BMW, VolkswagenAG’s Audi division and Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler isunprecedented. The deal underscores the German competitors’ pushfor self-driving systems independent of technology giants such asGoogle Inc.

[Related: Uber submits bid of up to $3 billion for Nokiamaps, NYT reports]

“This purchase shows carmakers are expecting huge new growth inautonomous driving and connectivity,” said Frank Biller, aStuttgart, Germany-based analyst for LBBW. “They’ve all beencooperating with HERE for maps for a long time, so they know aboutthe quality of the service.”

Supplying HERE’s technology to other carmakers would enable theGerman partners to tap into a market for automotive data andconnectivity that consulting company McKinsey & Co. estimatescould surge sixfold from current levels to 180 billion euros by2020.

Map accuracy

HERE’s map is accurate to within as few as 10 centimeters (4inches), a level of detail that’s necessary as cars becomeincreasingly able to guide themselves. The division has said it’sworking with 10 carmakers on automated driving. Its in-car mapsoftware already links to a smartphone app and can learn drivers’habits, such as picking up a coffee en route to work.

Licensing fees for its maps are HERE’s main source of revenue.The business generated an operating profit of 28 million euros inthe first half of this year, Espoo, Finland- based Nokia said. Theunit reported a loss of 1.24 billion euros last year, including agoodwill impairment charge of 1.21 billion euros.

Nokia is selling HERE to focus on making mobile-phone networkequipment. The sale price compares with the $8.1 billion that Nokiapaid in 2008 for map provider Navteq Corp., one of the businessesthat it combined to create HERE.

Keeping customers

The carmakers said HERE’s management will be independent andthat the company will continue to make its maps available to allcustomers across industries. The unit has about 6,500 employees andsupplies map data for about 80 percent of cars with in-dashnavigation systems in North America and Europe.

Nokia fell 0.5 percent to 6.40 euros as of 3:22 p.m. inHelsinki. Shares of TomTom NV, HERE’s Dutch competitor, rose 3.6percent to 10.21 euros in Amsterdam, valuing the company at 2.34billion euros. TomTom has gained almost 85 percent this year.

Evercore was Nokia’s financial adviser on the deal, while HoganLovells was among advisers to the carmakers group.

Earlier suitors for HERE included Baidu Inc., London-basedprivate-equity firm Apax Partners in cooperation with U.S. onlinecar-booking provider Uber Technologies Inc.; a group comprisingChina’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., NavInfo Co. and Swedish buyout firmEQT Partners AB; U.S. private-equity firms Hellman & Friedman,Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo; and Microsoft Corp.,according to people familiar with the matter.

Nokia agreed in April to buy French competitor Alcatel- LucentSA to create the world’s largest supplier of mobile- networkequipment. That deal received U.S. antitrust clearance inmid-June.

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