Volvo Cars to use maps and data provided by TomTom

TomTom, the Dutch navigation company, said on Wednesday it had won a contract to provide Volvo Cars with real-time maps and traffic data for its vehicles. Terms were not disclosed, but the contract is a major win for TomTom, which competes with Google Maps and HERE, the former Nokia unit now owned by Audi, BMW and Daimler.TomTom, once known mostly for dashboard-mounted GPS systems, has won a string of contracts for its mapping technology, which it believes will play an important role as car driving becomes increasingly automated. Other TomTom customers include Volkswagen, Uber and Apple.TomTom's shares are down more than 30 percent so far this year, declining sharply during the January market sell-off and again in February after issuing a forecast for 5 percent sales growth in 2016 that fell short of market expectations. This news comes right after TomTom announced the coverage expansion of its High Definition (HD) Map and RoadDNA products to seventeen new states across the United State.Reuters