Once the undisputed king of portable GPS devices, TomTom is reinventing itself as an invisible technology supplier to the automotive industry.

Seven months after succeeding founder Harold Goddijn, Belgian CEO Mike Schoofs is accelerating that transformation. Yet its affordable smartphone navigation app still offers advantages that many built-in car systems lack.

At its peak in 2008, TomTom sold 12 million portable navigation devices annually. Today, consumer products account for less than 10% of its revenue. In an interview with Belgian business newspaper L’Echo, Schoofs confirms that a major comeback in consumer hardware is not on the agenda.

The Antwerp-born executive, who joined TomTom in 2005 as its first Belgian employee, succeeded co-founder Harold Goddijn in April. He inherited extensive mapping expertise but declining revenues and growing competition from Google and HERE Technologies.

Fewer managers, more AI

Schoofs has reorganized TomTom around three activities: Navigation, Automated Driving, and Location Intelligence. He has removed management layers and announced another 200 job cuts worldwide, following 300 in 2025.

Nevertheless, TomTom remains a substantial global technology company, with around 3,300 employees and more than 30 offices worldwide. Beyond its Amsterdam headquarters, major engineering operations are located in Ghent, Belgium, and Pune, India.

The strategy builds on technology developed under Goddijn but puts greater emphasis on partnerships with carmakers, technology companies, and AI developers.

The financial turnaround remains uncertain. Third-quarter revenue fell 6% to €129 million, although TomTom expects its Location Technology business to return to growth in 2027.

Millions of moving traffic sensors

One of TomTom’s most impressive assets is its real-time traffic intelligence, developed over nearly two decades.

During an earlier visit to its Amsterdam headquarters, NMN was shown how location signals from millions of smartphones on the road were anonymously processed to calculate average speeds and detect emerging traffic jams.

The principle, known as Floating Car Data, still applies today, but on an enormous scale. TomTom now draws information from a worldwide network of more than 600 million connected GPS devices, including smartphones, factory-installed navigation systems and commercial vehicles.

According to figures published by the company, its technology processes more than 60 billion GPS observations daily, updating traffic conditions every 30 seconds. Its latest Traffic Index, published in January 2026, analyzed travel data covering more than 3.65 trillion kilometers worldwide during 2025.

Algorithms compare actual vehicle speeds with historical traffic patterns and combine the results with roadworks, accidents and closures. This allows TomTom to detect congestion, predict delays and suggest faster alternative routes.

For ordinary motorists, that enormous data-processing operation becomes visible through a surprisingly simple feature: a green alternative route on their navigation screen, indicating exactly how many minutes they could save.

Why choose TomTom over Google Maps?

For motorists, TomTom’s GO navigation app offers something many factory-installed systems and free smartphone alternatives struggle to match: control over the journey itself.

For around €20 annually, drivers can use TomTom through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, download maps for international journeys and navigate without continuous mobile internet coverage. Live traffic updates still require connectivity, but basic navigation works offline.

Its particular strengths are winding-road routing, extensive route preferences and elaborate itineraries with numerous pass-through waypoints. These are especially attractive to leisure motorists, classic-car enthusiasts and drivers exploring unfamiliar countries.

Unlike Waze, which allows only one intermediate stop, TomTom can guide drivers through multiple waypoints without requiring confirmation at each one. Google Maps also supports multi-stop journeys but generally treats intermediate destinations as stops, sometimes requiring drivers to tap ‘Continue’.

When TomTom detects a faster alternative, it highlights the route in green and indicates the potential time saving. Drivers can accept the detour simply by taking the suggested road, without touching the screen.

Google and Apple also offer offline maps, so that alone is no longer unique. TomTom’s advantage lies in combining downloadable maps, flexible touring routes and intuitive navigation.

Drivers can also prepare elaborate itineraries on a computer using TomTom’s online route planner and synchronize them with their smartphone for navigation through CarPlay or Android Auto. For scenic road trips, this is considerably more convenient than entering destinations individually on a car’s dashboard.

Why is built-in navigation often less capable?

There is a paradox: factory-installed navigation systems can appear less flexible than inexpensive smartphone applications, even when they use similarly sophisticated underlying technology.

TomTom supplies maps, routing algorithms and traffic intelligence to numerous carmakers, but manufacturers often determine the interface and which functions drivers can access.

Hyundai and Kia illustrate this complexity. TomTom supplies European maps and traffic information, while Hyundai AutoEver develops the navigation software. Yet HERE is also credited in the charging-station search of a 2024 Kia EV6, illustrating how different suppliers can contribute to one navigation experience.

TomTom’s independence is a major selling point for manufacturers. Unlike Google’s more integrated automotive ecosystem, it allows them to combine individual mapping and navigation services with their own software, branding and vehicle systems.

Its Orbis Maps platform adds detailed road geometry, restrictions and continuously updated location data, potentially helping driver-assistance systems anticipate what lies beyond the vehicle’s immediate surroundings.

EV navigation: a missed consumer opportunity?

Electric vehicles represent another growth opportunity. TomTom’s expanded automotive EV platform supports more than six million electric cars worldwide and covers over 2.3 million charging connectors in 117 countries.

Its new AI-powered consumption model uses vehicle specifications and real-world driving data to improve range predictions and plan charging stops. The system can incorporate charging speeds, connector compatibility, live availability, reliability ratings and expected congestion.

But these advanced functions are primarily aimed at car manufacturers. On an iPhone, TomTom’s paid GO application can locate charging stations but does not currently provide live charger availability.

This creates an intriguing contradiction: drivers may prefer TomTom GO for scenic routes and flexible itinerary planning, yet still need their car’s built-in navigation or another app to find an available fast charger.

TomTom already has much of the technology needed to combine both experiences, but it has not made the full package available in its consumer app.

A Belgian technological legacy

Belgium’s connection with TomTom extends beyond Schoofs. Its Ghent engineering hub, employing 144 people according to the CEO, works on real-time routing, traffic intelligence and geospatial data.

Its roots go back to digital mapping pioneer Tele Atlas, formerly led by Belgian entrepreneur Alain De Taeye. TomTom acquired the company for €2.9 billion in 2008, laying the foundations for its present technology business.

TomTom has also partnered with Chinese autonomous-driving specialist DeepRoute.ai to combine European road information with AI-based driving technology.

For Schoofs, the challenge is turning this technological legacy into profitable growth. But while TomTom increasingly regards consumer navigation as a secondary business, its affordable, feature-rich GO app remains a compelling alternative to many built-in systems.

Perhaps TomTom’s next big opportunity is not just to make cars smarter, but to rediscover the motorists who made it famous in the first place.