Here Technologies and its partners in China, Japan and Korea have joined forces to create a unified global digital representation of the road environment from 2020, which will help autonomous vehicles drive safely and efficiently wherever they are worldwide.
Here Technologies and its regional mapping partners NavInfo of China; Increment P (IPC), a subsidiary of the Japanese Pioneer Corporation; and Korea’s largest telecommunications company, SK Telecom, are aiming to create a unified worldwide mapping system for self-driving cars.
The four companies have formed the OneMap Alliance to offer a global, standardized and dynamic high-definition (HD) map from 2020, with the new offering to be aligned to the specifications developed for Here’s HD Live Map product. Together, the companies plan to offer a consistent HD map across all regions at a time when several auto makers will be bringing to market vehicles with high levels of automation. The OneMap Alliance is open to new, strategic partners that are shaping the future of automated driving, integrated mobility, and smart cities.
Here’s HD Live Map service will already cover more than 622,000 miles (1,000,000 km) of roads in North America, Europe, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2018. NavInfo is a leading provider of HD mapping in China, with Increment P providing a similar service in Japan. SK Telecom and Here plan to use large volumes of probe and sensor data to fuel HD Live Map updates and other dynamic data services.
Here’s existing HD Live Map is a dynamic digital representation of the road environment that uses camera and other sensory observations of millions of cars to ‘self-heal’, so that, as the world changes, the map corrects and calibrates itself to ensure it stays useful and trusted. It is designed to give vehicles an uninterrupted picture of the road environment, even when there is a truck or building blocking their view, with awareness of upcoming lane configurations and their meaning. The system can also be complemented by additional Here data services to provide useful information about real-time traffic conditions, jams, potential road hazards, and the best routes to take.
“Auto makers building automated cars are thinking globally and want an HD map that can scale with them,” said Ralf Herrtwich, SVP of services at Here Technologies. “By sourcing from the OneMap Alliance partners, auto makers get to leverage a map that is fully harmonized across regions, offering the same high quality for their vehicles in the USA as it does in Europe and Asia. This simplified way of sourcing the map will also help reduce auto makers’ development time and unnecessary costs.”
Takumi Jinguji, president and CEO of IPC, noted, “In Japan, Dynamic Map Platform Co. (DMP), in which IPC invested, together with other map companies and auto makers in Japan, has developed HD three-dimensional map data. With IPC’s map technology, HD map data developed by DMP will be provided to European and American auto makers through the Here HD Live Map.”
