In a deal that has looked certain for a few weeks now, a consortium of German automakers have acquired Nokia’s Here mapping division for €2.8bn, or roughly $3.05bn. The group, formed by Audi, BMW and Mercedes (Daimler), beat out interest from other parties, notably Chinese internet-giant Baidu and Uber, to buy the unit – which will likely form the basis of the consortium’s autonomous car ambitions. High quality maps are obviously very important for self-driving vehicles, and have an equally practical use as part of the regular navigation systems used by drivers today. By purchasing a well-regarded operation like Here, the consortium secures a service that is independent of Google’s maps – a company that also has self-driving car ambitions.…