Skip to main content

Autonomous vehicle accuracy mapping from TomTom

Pride of place on satellite navigation pioneer TomTom’s stand is very high resolution 3D mapping, initially for Germany, which it says provides the 10cm accuracy necessary for highly automated vehicles. Its mainstream mapping is also high definition meaning the image can be used on any size of screen – as visitors can see.
October 8, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Matthieu Campion of TomTom with the company's technology

Pride of place on satellite navigation pioneer 1692 TomTom’s stand is very high resolution 3D mapping, initially for Germany, which it says provides the 10cm accuracy necessary for highly automated vehicles. Its mainstream mapping is also high definition meaning the image can be used on any size of screen – as visitors can see.

Also highlighted is the company’s smartphone navigation app – increasingly favoured by occasional users of navigation services while it finds regular users such as delivery drivers are staying with dedicated devices. 
Marketing manager, automotive, Matthieu Campion said his company has many reciprocal agreements with road authorities to both receive and deliver traffic information and is working on algorithms to predict traffic conditions over the coming 15 minutes.  

And with changes happening on 15% of major routes each year, the company is working on speeding the verification and map updating process to a matter of a few days, or potentially hours, rather than weeks or a month as it is currently. “Much depends on where the users’ maps are actually located; in their devices (which are currently updated quarterly) or on our servers which can be readily updated,” says Campion.

There is currently discussions with the vehicle manufacturers about a strategy for high frequency updates and whether to update the area around the vehicle or along the selected route.

Related Content

  • October 28, 2015
    When caring about sharing is good business for US automakers
    Although car-sharing and ride-sharing could drastically reduce car sales, David Crawford finds some US automakers are keen to participate in the sharing economy. Growing consumer interest in car- and ride-sharing, as opposed to outright ownership, and ride-sharer Uber’s recently stated intention to make its brand competitive with ownership on cost, are making the major US automotive manufacturers think seriously about their future sales prospects. Some have already begun exploring ways of entering the field
  • November 7, 2012
    Europe's electronic toll service closer to operational reality
    After much debate and delay, a unifying European Electronic Toll Service is now finally on the horizon, says ASFiNAG’s Klaus Schierhackl. Here, he talks with Jason Barnes about what that might mean. Aworkable European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) which will allow truck drivers to travel across the continent and pay tolls using a single account and OnBoard Unit (OBU) was originally timetabled to be in place and operating by October of this year. A lack of urgency from some of the stakeholders involved in t
  • August 20, 2019
    Hikvision’s wind/solar solution offers ‘off grid’ vision
    Getting vision tech to ‘off-grid’ areas is a challenge - but Hikvision has come up with an answer in China, while also handling some rather more conventional smart cities work in Germany
  • January 5, 2016
    Will mobile apps kick-start mobility pricing?
    Thomas Hallauer from Ptolemus believes trials of connected road charging services will show the pay per mile concept will go much further than previously thought. Drivers are progressively becoming directly connected to the transport infrastructure and while the methods are changing, the innovation is really in the models rather than the technology.