Qualcomm Working with TomTom on Mapping Data for Autonomous Driving

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced it is working with TomTom (TOM2), a global leader in navigation and mapping products, on using the Qualcomm® Drive Data Platform for high-definition (HD) map crowdsourcing, to accelerate the future of autonomous driving. Qualcomm Drive Data Platform utilizes cutting-edge technologies to intelligently collect and analyze data from different vehicle sensors, supporting smarter vehicles to determine their location, monitor and learn driving patterns, perceive their surroundings and share this perception with the rest of the world reliably and accurately. TomTom's HD Map, including RoadDNA, is a revolutionary, highly accurate, digital map-based product, which assists automated vehicles to precisely locate themselves on the road and help determine which way to maneuver, even when traveling at high speeds.

Traditional development of maps requires deploying dedicated fleets of vehicles that are equipped with professional-grade sensors to collect location, raw imagery, Lidar and other data, which is then transferred, stored and processed in data centers. Now that cars are increasingly connected and equipped with a range of sensors, new and complimentary approaches become possible.

Using the precise positioning, on-device machine learning, heterogeneous compute and connectivity capabilities of the Qualcomm Drive Data Platform, which features the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820Am automotive processor, TomTom and Qualcomm Technologies aim to facilitate adding an improved, scalable and cost-efficient crowdsourcing approach to the mix of sources for HD map making. The new concept is designed to allow massive numbers of connected cars to see and understand their environment, traffic and road conditions, and support real-time input for map and road condition updates.

"Feature-rich, highly accurate and frequently updated HD maps are critical to support some of the most advanced applications envisioned in the automotive industry, especially for autonomous driving," said Willem Strijbosch, head of autonomous driving, TomTom. "We are building the cloud-based platform to make and maintain HD maps using a range of input sources, including crowdsourced data from swarms of intelligent connected vehicles. We're excited to explore the connectivity and compute capabilities of the Qualcomm Drive Data Platform to help map the world for the future of driving."

"Qualcomm Technologies is demonstrating today that an affordable and easy-to-integrate mapping solution for autonomous vehicles is realizable," said Nakul Duggal, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "The Qualcomm Drive Data Platform is designed to integrate key technologies into a cost-effective edge compute solution required to support safer, highly connected and smarter transportation, and we are pleased to offer this technology for HD Map providers such as TomTom as well as automakers, shared mobility service providers and automotive industry at large."