Highly Precise Maps for Daimler Cars will Be Key Element for Autonomous Driving
Daimler, an automotive corporation and HERE Technologies, a mapping and location data services company, have teamed up to make HERE HD Live Map an integral part of Daimler’s autonomous driving technology. With these efforts, both companies are laying the groundwork for upcoming generations of highly automated and autonomous Mercedes‑Benz vehicles to come to market with the benefits of HD Live Map on board.
For Daimler, this is a logical step as the current E-and S‑Class models and the new A‑Class are already using maps from HERE.
Highly precise digital maps are a key component for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. The machine-readable, cloud-based map allows an automated vehicle to effectively ‘see around corners’ and consists of multiple layers of information essential for it to know where exactly it is, what lies ahead and what it should do in various scenarios.
HERE has created the map to be “self-healing”, meaning that it can reflect dynamic changes in the road environment and update itself accordingly in near real-time. This enables vehicles to proactively adjust to changing road conditions like switching lanes and adjusting speed ahead of time in the case of an upcoming lane closure.
Vehicle sensor data is the most crucial element for an HD map to self-heal because of its quality, and the sheer volume of vehicles on the road that can detect and validate change.
HERE is already receiving rich vehicle sensor data from multiple automakers, including Daimler, to produce near real-time map updates. With passenger safety top of mind, the live map constantly publishes changes to the map through an innovative content validation process, where multiple vehicle sensors act as a “closed loop” to detect any deviations from the published data.
“The map of the future is one that’s self-healing—constantly updating to mirror what is happening across the road network. Together with Daimler, we are mastering this powerful mapping technology and are excited to make it available for the next generation of Mercedes-Benz vehicles,” said Ralf Herrtwich, SVP Automotive at HERE Technologies.
“Maps with centimetre precision updating themselves in near real-time is one key element for autonomous driving. With the new HD Live Map and the rich, continuously growing information it provides, we are taking a big step on the way towards autonomous driving,” said Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.
Mercedes-Benz was a two-time global winner of the World Branding Awards, in the Automotive category.
