Skip to main content

BMW to switch to Here HD map for future self-driving vehicles

German-based BMW Group (BMW) has confirmed it will integrate Here’s HD Live Map into its self-driving cars from the beginning of the next decade to enable them to operate with level three and four automated capabilities. The project aims to enhance safety for drivers and passengers. The map is designed with the intention of providing a more precise solution than navigation systems and is said to be updated more rapidly, drawing on data from a growing list of partners across the automotive industry.
February 22, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
German-based 6419 BMW Group (BMW) has confirmed it will integrate 7643 Here’s HD Live Map into its self-driving cars from the beginning of the next decade to enable them to operate with level three and four automated capabilities. The project aims to enhance safety for drivers and passengers.


The map is designed with the intention of providing a more precise solution than navigation systems and is said to be updated more rapidly, drawing on data from a growing list of partners across the automotive industry.

Christoph Grote, senior vice president electronics BMW, said: “The BMW Group has around ten million connected vehicles on the road. BMW Group vehicles fitted with the relevant sensors have been collecting real-time mobility information since 2015. For example, BMW vehicles can detect hazards and speed restrictions, and add this highly relevant information to on-board mapping ‘over the air'. Together with HD Live Map, we have essential building blocks for highly and fully automated driving in place for the long term. As we progress towards this point, we will be able to offer our customers further location-based services and driver assistance information later this year.”

Related Content

  • August 23, 2016
    Xerox takes youthful view of future transport
    Xerox’s David Cummins talks to Colin Sowman about the lessons for city authorities from its survey of younger peoples’ attitude to transport. There can be no better way to get a handle on the future of transport demand than to ask the younger generation about how they view and consume today’s transport. Sociologists have called this group Generation Z – those born between 1995 and 2007 – which will make up 40% of all US consumers by 2020.
  • October 1, 2019
    Uber bolsters app features to boost micromobility
    Uber is combining its ride-hailing and food delivery apps, while polishing its green credentials and launching a range of new features and partnerships. There is a particular focus on micromobility: bikes and scooters will be displayed on the map inside the ride-hailing giant’s app in 28 cities to make it easier for users to view their options. The company is also expanding its in-app Transit option to include San Francisco, Mexico City and Paris. New Uber Jump bikes and scooters will come with batteries
  • January 23, 2012
    Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
  • August 20, 2019
    Vaisala's RoadAI can optimise maintenance
    Alerts for natural disasters are ones that most of us would rather do without, writes Adam Hill. But the ITS industry still needs help to deal with more common meteorological issues Google Maps has added SOS alerts to its service. For those of us more used to using the phone app to navigate from a metro station to an unfamiliar restaurant, this may seem extreme. But this is not what Google has in mind. Its SOS messages are for “hurricane forecast cones, earthquake shake-maps and flood forecasts”. That