Prior to CES, TomTom made several announcements about autonomous driving and partnerships with Denso and Delphi.
TomTom announces that its maps for automated driving are powering over half a million Level 1 and Level 2-enabled automated vehicles on the road today. The half million vehicles are across multiple manufacturers.
Willem Strijbosch, TomTom’s Head of Autonomous Driving, comments: “The road towards a fully autonomous future is exciting – and we’re already powering automated driving on the roads right now. TomTom’s vision is an autonomous future with safer roads, free of congestion and emissions – today’s milestone is a key step towards this.”
TomTom also announced that it will accelerate the future of driving by collaborating with DENSO on its software platform for autonomous vehicles. TomTom’s High Definition (HD) Map will work in combination with DENSO in-vehicle sensors such as cameras and radars to power the localization, perception and path planning functions for a complete autonomous driving system.
This collaboration will allow DENSO to offer a market-leading system targeting Level 2 automation for highways and major urban roads, by leveraging the end-to-end mapping system developed together with TomTom. Combining DENSO’s sensors with TomTom HD Maps will result in a system that is more advanced, more reliable and safer. TomTom and DENSO have teams working together in Japan.
As part of this agreement, DENSO will provide processed sensor data to TomTom’s end-to-end mapping system for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), updating TomTom’s HD Map on the fly. This will be achieved by generating crowdsourced map updates called Roadagrams which are used to ensure the HD Map reflects the reality of the road. Combined with sensor data from survey vehicles, TomTom can guarantee an accurate global HD Map. AutoStream – TomTom’s innovative map delivery system – then delivers the latest map data to the vehicles on demand.
Harold Goddijn, CEO, TomTom, said: “DENSO is a long-time leader in automotive ADAS technology. We’re proud to be working with them to serve their Japanese and global customers. This collaboration proves the value of the TomTom HD Map and TomTom AutoStream as critical components for autonomous vehicles.”
Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, Executive Vice President, DENSO, said: “We reviewed various digital mapping platforms and determined that the TomTom HD Map and TomTom AutoStream reflect our vision of bringing changes in the road noted by our sensors back to all vehicles as quickly as possible through HD Map updates. Just as importantly, TomTom shares our commitment to safety that is paramount to the autonomous driving experience. Together, we will lead the industry with innovative solutions for all OEMs.”
The TomTom HD Map is a digital map product which makes autonomous vehicles safer and more comfortable by complementing sensors, powering accurate localization and enabling path planning. TomTom’s HD Map is the first to cover highways and interstates across the USA, Western Europe, Japan and South Korea.
TomTom AutoStream is an innovative map delivery service for autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems. It ensures an autonomous vehicle can always use the latest map data for the road ahead, while minimizing data consumption.
Headquartered in Amsterdam with offices in 37 countries, TomTom’s technologies are trusted by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
TomTom is also collaborating with Delphi Technologies (DLPH), to help powertrains become predictive. The vehicle’s powertrain control system will be enriched with TomTom’s maps so it knows what’s up ahead. Map data such as speed limits and road gradient combine to control a vehicle’s speed, reducing energy consumption and helping to improve safety.
Antoine Saucier, Managing Director, TomTom Automotive, comments: “Making every journey safe and comfortable is only one part of the puzzle – making them as efficient as possible is a huge challenge too. Our collaboration with Delphi Technologies will help us to deploy our maps to optimize every journey by reducing vehicle fuel consumption and emissions.”
Join TomTom at CES – January 8-11, 2019. North Hall, Booth #5226.
Headquartered in Amsterdam with offices in 37 countries, TomTom’s technologies are trusted by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.