Maps: the new frontier in the tech arms race

Uber is entering the mapping business, taking on Google, Apple and TomTom. And this isn't just about taxi pickups - the future of driverless cars is at stake

Uber is spending half a billion dollars to develop its own maps so that it can ditch Google, which sounds roughly as sensible as Tesco piling millions into inventing its own shelves. Other people make shelves - good shelves. Why waste money on your own shelves?

Because in the latest arms race in tech, the three biggest prizes are location, location, location. And Uber, the global taxi service valued last year at more than $60bn (45bn), has bigger plans than getting you home after a night out.