TomTom to supply mapping data for Volvo Trucks, Skoda

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - TomTom NV will supply traffic data to Volvo Trucks and Volkswagen's Skoda cars in deals announced on Thursday by the navigation services provider. TomTom's main rival HERE, Nokia's former digital maps division now owned by three major German carmakers, this week said it would launch a rival product next year that will allow drivers to see real-time video of traffic on the road ahead. TomTom's shares are down 27 percent this year, in part on competition worries. That's despite a spate of contract wins for both its mapping and traffic data services, including a deal with Volvo cars in June. TomTom, once known mostly for dashboard-mounted GPS systems, has said its growth will come mostly from licensing its mapping technology, which will become increasingly important as self-driving cars grow in popularity. TomTom said it will supply Volvo Trucks in Europe with both mapping and traffic data for their "infotainment" systems, and the deal may later be expanded outside Europe. The Amsterdam-based company also said it had expanded its traffic data contract with Volkswagen AG to cover all of the German automaker's Skoda models over the course of 2017. Financial details of the two deals were not disclosed. Even though Volkswagen is one of the owners of HERE, along with BMW and Daimler , TomTom traffic data is used in many Volkswagen-branded vehicles as well as some models produced by Volkswagen units Audi, Porsche and Bentley. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)