TECHNOLOGY
Alex Mangan charts the history of embedded in-vehicle maps and
how a new solution, announced at CES 2017, is paving the way for automated vehicles
Seeing beyond the horizon
A
few weeks ago HERE, the digital map- maker, were quietly celebrating: the cumulative number of new vehicles
sold worldwide with its maps on board had surpassed 100 million. The event marked a milestone on a jour-
ney that began with the 1994 BMW E38. The new 7-series model was among the first European cars to ship with an embed- ded navigation system, complete with a map of Germany supplied on disc by HERE, then known as NAVTEQ. The moment gave HERE the opportunity to reflect on the role of embedded location technologies today and in the future. From their primitive, luxury-car roots, in-
dash navigation systems have, of course, grown up. Increasingly sophisticated and more user-friendly and connected to the Internet, today they can access all kinds of data aggregated and processed in the cloud to aid the driver – from live traffic-
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aware routing to details of road closures and parking availability. They’re going mainstream too. In 2016,
for example, it is estimated that roughly 48 per cent of new vehicles sold in North America and Europe shipped with embed- ded navigation systems. That compares with about 30 per cent just four years earlier. With the auto industry aspiring to build cars that drive themselves, adoption of embedded technologies is projected to grow at a healthy clip in the years ahead. Already no longer just a navigational
tool, we’ll soon be seeing maps increas- ingly contribute to driving decisions, feed- ing data directly to the driver assistance systems (ADAS) of the car and bypassing the driver altogether. Just as its camera or radar scans the near environment, the car will have access to a map in the cloud that is depicting the world beyond the reach of its sensors. This will help the car ‘see beyond
Almost half of all new vehicles bought in 2016 in North America and Europe were equipped with an embedded navigation system
the horizon’, enabling it to know and react to what’s ahead before it gets there and making for a safer, more economical and comfortable ride.
MAPPING THE FUTURE The idea of the map as a kind of extended sensor is not new. ADASIS, a forum that defines how maps connect and interact with ADAS applications, was originally borne out of a technology patented by HERE in 1999 called ‘Electronic Horizon’. Its authors envisioned it helping a vehicle to adapt cruise control or be more fuel-effi- cient, based on road attributes included in a map, such as the slope and curvature of the road, traffic signs and lane information. Fast forward 18 years and it’s a technol-
www.thinkinghighways.com
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