Map War

Companies preparing for the driverless car business are competing to secure precise and three-dimensional (3D) mapping data of major cities in all countries.
Companies preparing for the driverless car business are competing to secure precise and three-dimensional (3D) mapping data of major cities in all countries.

 

A scramble for mapping data between the global information and communications technology (ICT) and automobile businesses is accelerating. Companies which prepare for the driverless car business are competing to secure precise, three-dimensional (3D) mapping data of major cities in all countries before the commercialization of autonomous vehicles in 2020.

This means that the self-driving car industry plays on the global market arena without limits of borders from the beginning. In particular, there is an opinion that it is the basis foreshowing that the market will be developed based on services, such as car sharing using driverless vehicles, instead of just selling hardware of autonomous vehicles.

Industry experts said, “If autonomous car manufacturers target the market of specific countries, they can collect data of roads and geographical features in the countries by using advanced sensors, including high-performance Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), a laser-based object recognition technology. However, the sale of self-driving cars and car sharing services are being developed, targeting the global market. The reason why firms that have started the autonomous driving business are competing to secure mapping data crossing borders is to preoccupy the global market.”

According to major foreign news reports and related industry sources on January 30, the value of Nokia's HERE map service, which has been jointly acquired by Germany’s BMW AG, Daimler AG and Audi AG with the investment of 3 trillion won (US$2.58 billion) at the end of 2015, is increasing day by day. After China’s Tencent bought a 10 percent ownership stake in HERE in December last year, Intel has recently strengthened cooperation with German automakers by acquiring a 15 percent stake in HERE.

The common goal of these companies, which practically take an anti-Google stance, is to secure the leadership in self-driving car services. This is because high-precision map is one of core technologies in autonomous cars, which need to accurately recognize geographic features. Moreover, HERE, which provides navigation maps for cars in 200 countries around the world, holds a market share of more than 80 percent in Europe so it has a high competitiveness in data.

In addition, global ride-sharing service provider Uber, which was developed based on “Google Maps,” has been making its own map starting from August last year in order to offer car sharing and autonomous truck services by using autonomous vehicles.

Hyundai MnSOFT, a vehicle infotainment company of Hyundai Motor Group, is also establish a precise map which is 10 times more accurate than map used in general navigation systems. Particularly, the company is developing high precision sensors considering domestic conditions such as tunnels and elevated roads.

NVIDIA is collaborating with ZENRIN, one of Japan's major mapping companies, to develop a high definition map solution for self-driving cars. SK Telecom also announced to jointly develop an autonomous driving solution with NVIDIA based on its own mobile navigation app “T map,” which is used by all users of the nation’s three mobile carriers.

Since high precision mapping data is highly correlated with not only parking lot management system and road infrastructure but also fuel efficiency, the competition for maps between related businesses is expected to be more intense.

 

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