Skip to main content

Japan to develop 3-D maps for self-driving cars in time for Tokyo Olympics

A joint venture in Japan will begin creating high-definition 3-D maps for self-driving cars in September as part of a government effort to have such vehicles on the road by 2020, when the Tokyo Summer Olympics will be held, reports Nikkei. Mitsubishi Electric company Dynamic Map Planning, mapmaker Zenrin and nine Japanese auto makers will begin creating high definition 3D maps for self-driving cars, digitally charting the country's key expressways by driving a vehicle loaded with special surveying equipm
September 13, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A joint venture in Japan will begin creating high-definition 3-D maps for self-driving cars in September as part of a government effort to have such vehicles on the road by 2020, when the Tokyo Summer Olympics will be held, reports Nikkei.

7874 Mitsubishi Electric company Dynamic Map Planning, mapmaker Zenrin and nine Japanese auto makers will begin creating high definition 3D maps for self-driving cars, digitally charting the country's key expressways by driving a vehicle loaded with special surveying equipment. The data will be processed using computers designed for the creation of maps, which will be provided to automakers that invest in the start-up.

As a first step, Tokyo-based Dynamic Map Planning, appointed by Japan’s Cabinet Office's Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, will make maps covering 300km of the country's main expressways.

Mitsubishi Electric has developed the high-precision surveying equipment that will be installed on the survey vehicle. GPS will track the location of the car on the map and sensors designed to detect the inclination of the car will measure the road grades, while lasers will co0llect data on the locations of road signs and traffic lights, as well as right- and left-turns and pedestrian crossings. Lines on the road, such as lanes, noise barriers and road signage, will be plotted on that image to faithfully re-create road conditions for 3-D maps.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • “Chaotic” roads will stall self-driving cars
    July 31, 2014
    The Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA) has responded to the UK government’s announcement giving driverless cars the go-ahead on UK roads, saying that it points to an exciting future, but hampered at the outset by the daily routine of road works, potholes, worn road markings, burst mains and failed traffic lights. “By 2025, at least half the travel on Europe’s roads will be in vehicles that can read the road ahead including markings and signs. But vehicles, like drivers, cannot function if basic road
  • NOCoE delivers data for diligent DOTs
    April 29, 2015
    David Crawford talks to Dennis Motiani about the role of the new National Operations Centre of Excellence. Consolidating the collective experience of the US transportation system’s management and operations (TSM&O) community, streamlining its information gathering, while cutting research times and costs are the key drivers behind the country’s new National Operations Centre of Excellence (NOCoE). Launched in January at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), this sets out to be a sin
  • Data crunching ‘can prevent cars crashing’
    March 25, 2013
    Having already cut traffic collisions resulting in injuries and deaths by nearly forty per cent in five years by analysing patterns from data it has collected, the city of Edmonton, Canada, is using predictive technologies to increase road safety even more. The city’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has installed as many as 200 digital signs as just one element of an innovative traffic safety program that has dramatically reduced vehicle collisions in the Edmonton region since OTS launched in late 2006. Unde
  • SRL’s temporary permanent traffic solution
    March 30, 2021
    The lengthy reconfiguration of a London accident hotspot to make it safer risked creating its own safety problems. SRL’s John Cleary tells Adam Hill how his firm has been protecting VRUs