Microsoft has announced it’s selling some of its Bing Maps assets to Uber Inc., including around 100 employees focused on the product’s image collection activities. The company also said it will stop collecting its own map data, though it plans to continue to offer Bing Maps using data licensed from partners.

Meanwhile, Uber has also bought a new data center near Boulder, Colorado, as well as cameras and licenses to some of Microsoft’s intellectual property.

Although Microsoft gets much of its mapping data from Nokia and other partners, it also used to collect its own aerial, 3-D and street-level maps. This data will now be sourced from partners as well, as the company focuses its work on refining the Bing Maps experience that overlays this data and imagery.

“Over the past year, we have taken many actions to focus the company’s efforts around our core business strategy,” Microsoft said in a statement. “In keeping with these efforts, we will no longer collect mapping imagery ourselves, and instead will continue to partner with premium content and imagery providers for underlying data while concentrating our resources on the core user experience. With this decision, we will transfer many of our imagery acquisition operations to Uber.”

Uber’s main app basically revolves around a map anyway, and so it’s no surprise the company is looking to strengthen its expertise in this department. Recently, the startup was reportedly interested in acquiring Nokia’s HERE maps business in a $3 billion deal, but now, with the acquisition of Microsoft’s data and engineers, it seems like Uber may have decided to build its own product.

“Mapping is at the heart of what makes Uber great,” Uber said in a statement. “So we’ll continue to work with partners, as well as invest in our own technology, to build the best possible experience for riders and drivers.”

Uber’s app currently uses Google Maps as its main tool, but the two companies could well become rivals in the race to develop self-driving cars (Uber is working with Carnegie Mellon to develop driverless car technology), which gives Uber a good reason to be less dependent on the search giant. In addition, Uber also recently hired Brian McClendon, a top Google mapping executive. The former Microsoft team will report to him as part of a newly formed advanced technologies unit.

Cashflow problems?

The acquisition comes as Uber tries to head off negative press elsewhere, most notably a story about the state of its finances. According to a Bloomberg report, which cites leaked company numbers, the company’s financial position is much shakier than previously believed.

Bloomberg said Uber had revenues of $415 million in contrast to an operating loss of $470 million, but admitted it doesn’t know what time frame the numbers correspond to, nor could it say if the results were for a full year or a single quarter. But while an Uber spokesman was quick to point out the figures as “substantially old”, the numbers are still quite worrying – suggestive that it’s running up some pretty impressive losses in spite of its near $50 billion valuation.

In other news, French authorities have turned up the heat on Uber with the arrest of two of its executives. Thibaud Simphal, the manager of Uber France, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, the general manager for Uber in Western Europe, were both arrested as the French government steps up its efforts to clamp down on the ride-sharing firm, Reuters reported.

The arrests come after French authorities filed a legal complaint against Uber last Friday over its UberPOP service, which allows drivers to pick up passengers without any kind of professional driving license. The move came after French taxi drivers staged massive protests against Uber last week, accusing it of unfair competition.

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