Skip to main content

TomTom and Baidu join forces to develop HD maps for autonomous driving

TomTom and Chinese mapping service provider Baidu have joined forces to develop high definition (HD) maps for autonomous driving.
July 7, 2017 Read time: 1 min

1692 TomTom and Chinese mapping service provider Baidu have joined forces to develop high definition (HD) maps for autonomous driving. Their collaboration combines their expertise in HD map-making and artificial intelligence (AI). Baidu will leverage TomTom’s real-time map platform to improve HD map-related technologies utilised in China.

TomTom’s HD Map and RoadDNA are two digital map products helping automated vehicles precisely locate themselves on the road and plan manoeuvres, even when travelling at high speeds. TomTom’s HD Map already covers the USA and Western Europe, with over 360,000km of highways and interstates mapped.

Leveraging its resource and capabilities in AI, Baidu has been developing HD maps since 2013, using smart technologies such as deep learning to help automate data processing and map creation. Earlier this year, it announced its open source autonomous driving platform, Apollo, which aims to build a collaborative ecosystem for companies to work together and to promote the development and popularisation of autonomous driving technology.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tomtom offers authorities sensor-free traffic monitoring
    October 12, 2016
    Tomtom City, a traffic information and analytics package designed to help authorities monitor road conditions without the need for roadside infrastructure, is on display on Tomtom’s stand at this week’s ITS World Congress. The company collects data from 450 million connected devices worldwide (6% of Australian vehicles or occupants have a connected device) to determine vehicle speeds, congestion levels and incidents on most roads – and not just those in urban areas. Authorities using City can monitor traf
  • Revealed: future of mobility in Hamburg
    October 7, 2021
    From 11-15 October, the ITS World Congress will present a myriad of innovations
  • Infrastructure and the autonomous vehicle
    December 12, 2014
    Harold Worrall ponders the effect of autonomous vehicles on transportation infrastructure. For the last century the transportation industry has been focused on the supply of infrastructure to support the ever growing fleet of vehicles and the greater number of miles covered by each vehicle. Our focus has been planning, funding, designing, building and maintaining roadways. Politicians, engineers, planners, financial managers … all of us have had this focus. We have experienced demand growth since the first
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…