TomTom CEO: Self-driving cars the way forward for GPS firm

Dutch navigation company TomTom wants to become the main navigation provider for self-driving cars, chief executive Harold Goddijn told Reuters. He said an overhaul of TomTom’s mapping architecture lies behind the recent successes of the company’s automotive division. The company was able to win big contracts that resulted in analyst upgrading and a 40 percent growth in value of its shares. He said carmakers were now betting on his company, besides Google, to provide accurate enough coordinates to be able to navigate computer-assisted driving. "We are seen by our customers as the guys with the right ideas on how you do those things," he said in the interview. In the last several years, TomTom was going through a difficult period with cheaper competitors entering the personal navigation devices market and diminishing the company’s margins. With the market stabilizing now, Goddijn thinks TomTom’s other lines of business are also set to grow in the near future. TomTom recently attempted a diversification of its line of products by entering the market for action cameras. It claims to attain a competitive edge in the sector through a more accessible editing interface of its product.