Rumour has it that Intel is looking to acquire Moovit - a big data traffic tracking company that provides transit data to hundreds of millions of people around the world. 

TechCrunch reports that Intel is in the final stages of a deal that could cost around $1 billion but would help boost the company's autonomous vehicle division. 

It's thought that the addition of Moovit's technology could lead to some very useful data for Intel's autonomous efforts including real-time traffic information and intelligent vehicle routing. These are some of the trickiest aspects of autonomous vehicle use and could mean a bright future for Intel's plans.

Moovit has already been working with Intel in the past and the recent growth of the app is only going to help boost its value to the chip giant.

In its current guise, Moovit is pitched as a "the world's most popular urban mobility app". In other words, it provides people with the data they need to easily get around cities using different modes of public transport and even includes integration with Uber et al. It's also used by over 800 million people globally.

That's a whole lot of useful data for Intel. 

Of course, people aren't using such services as much at the moment, but it's expected that'll change in future and with the rise in autonomous vehicles, this sort of data will be invaluable.