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

  • June 20, 2012
    Vehicle probe data aids emergency rescue vehicle routing
    A new vehicle routeing initiative has arisen to help improve emergency response and relief following natural disasters in Japan. David Crawford reports Japan’s national ITS group ITS Japan and the country’s leading automotives have agreed on a new combined approach to the organisation of traffic management and emergency response in the wake of major natural disasters. A new, robust traffic information platform using probe data obtained from vehicles to support traffic flow will build on the shared experienc
  • January 11, 2013
    Network video alternative to machine vision in urban applications
    It would be easy to fall into the trap of seeing machine vision as the vision-based solution for ITS and traffic, however Patrik Anderson, Director Business Development Transportation of Axis Communications, notes that many of the applications which are coming to be associated with machine vision – and, indeed, many of the characteristics, such as at-the-edge analytics and image processing – are also possible with open-standard networked video. Networked video brings a whole host of advantages, such as the
  • May 3, 2017
    Countering truckers’ parking conundrum
    Colin Sowman hears about a new truck parking information system being piloted across eight states. Legislation limits truck drivers’ hours with the result that they are often caught in a situation where they need to stop either for a break or an overnight rest. But as truck parking is in short supply, truck drivers spend an average of 56 minutes a day searching for available spaces and are often faced with the choice of driving beyond their permitted hours or parking illegally.
  • November 13, 2012
    Social media mooted for traffic management
    SQLstream’s Ronnie Beggs discusses with Jason Barnes the potential and pitfalls of using social media for traffic monitoring and management. cataclysmic events such as hurricanes and tsunami have challenged perceptions of what constitutes robust traffic management infrastructure in recent times. Presumptions that only fixed systems could offer high levels of unbroken service, accuracy and communication bandwidth, have been taught some hard lessons by nature. In many respects wireless systems now represent t