TomTom, TRI-AD and DENSO collaborate on Advanced Mapmaking for Automated Driving

TomTom, the location technology specialist, Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD) and DENSO, announced a successful proof of concept demonstrating a fast high definition (HD) map-building method for roads, essential for safer autonomous driving.

This was achieved with TRI-AD test vehicles equipped with DENSO sensors, TRI-AD's Automated Mapping Platform (AMP), and TomTom's cloud-based transactional mapping platform. The vehicle sensors are used to collect road observations, which are converted and corrected by TRI-AD's AMP, for input into TomTom's cloud-based transactional mapping platform.

These crowdsourced map updates are achieved with TomTom Roadagrams, highly accurate map snippets from car sensors, that TomTom uses to ensure the TomTom HD Map reflects the reality of the road. Combined with sensor data from survey vehicles, this process enables TomTom to maintain the accuracy of its HD map.

“At TomTom we believe a multi-sourced HD map is essential to making safer autonomous driving possible. Survey vehicles, crowdsourced data and human moderation, amongst other data sources, enable TomTom's HD map to be extremely fast and accurate,” said Willem Strijbosch, Head of Autonomous Driving at TomTom. “Together with DENSO and TRI-AD, TomTom is proud to have successfully delivered a fast mapmaking method capable of updating the TomTom HD Map, on the fly.”

Mandali Khalesi, Vice President of Automated Driving Strategy and Mapping, TRI-AD, said, “Working with our partners, we have demonstrated the smooth integration of automotive sensors and scalable HD map generation through AMP. This brings us one step closer to a future where surface road automated mobility is available for all.”

Norio Fujimori, Executive Fellow, DENSO, said, “We look forward to working on many more successful collaborations with TRI-AD and TomTom. Together our hardware and software will transform future mobility.”

TomTom was the first HD map supplier to achieve broad highway coverage of the US, Europe and East Asia. TomTom has been awarded multiple HD map deals with global carmakers, making TomTom a leading HD map supplier.