Uber to invest $500 million to create its own maps

World's largest taxi-hailing company, Uber is expected to invest around $500m in world mapping project to reduce its dependence on Google Maps and pave the way for driverless cars, according to a report in Financial Times.

Uber has currently deployed mapping vehicles in the US and Mexico to collect images and data for its mapping project. The company said it will roll out mapping vehicles in other countries soon.

After raising billions of dollars from investors, the San Francisco headquartered company is aggressively investing in technologies such as mapping and driverless cars.

Uber, which relies on Google Maps for its daily operations around the world, is keen on creating its own maps as it competes with Google in technologies like driverless cars.

The news of this investment comes at a time when Uber is expected to merge its China unit with Didi Chuxing, China's largest ride-hailing service in a $35 billion deal.