Uber is now using TomTom digital maps in its smartphone apps

Earlier this year, the company offered $3 billion for Nokia’s mapping business, before it was eventually sold to a consortium of German auto makers.

News of the Uber deal sent TomTom’s shares up 8.2 percent in Amsterdam on Thursday and they have now more than doubled this year.

“We want to have highly accurate maps for self-driving vehicles of all highways and similar roads in Germany by the end of 2015”, Jan Maarten de Vries, vice president of TomTom’s automotive division, told the the Wall Street Journal after announcing its partnership with Bosch.

While Uber isn’t necessarily cutting ties with current providers like Apple and Google Maps, this latest move does suggest a more concerted effort from the ridesharing app to develop native navigation, mapping, and location services.

“The Uber deal is a big plus for TomTom because of the brand itself, the high margin revenue that it can generate, but also because it provides optionality”, Martijn den Drijver, an analyst at SNS Securities in Amsterdam, said in a note. It is likely that the riders will not notice much of a difference, other than possibly arriving at their destination quicker.

We look forward to working with TomTom, a leader in the mapping and navigation space. TomTom is a Dutch technology company which will assist the ride hailing service Uber. That’s because many have highlighted how Google’s own ambitions in transportation will put it into direct competition with Uber.

A large proportion of Uber’s operations is dependent upon the mapping and navigation systems it uses to assist drivers and rider to locate each other.

“We are excited to provide Uber with our best-in-class location data”, TomTom’s managing director of map and licensing Charles Cautley said. Shares for the Dutch mapping and navigation firm, valued at $2.6 billion, were up over 5 percent in the morning trading after the news came out.