This infographic shows the regional mapping partners of the OneMap Alliance. (image: SK Telecom)
SEOUL, May 23 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday that it has joined a mapping consortium with three regional partners to make a global high-definition map for autonomous vehicles.
The OneMap Alliance — which also includes HERE Technologies, NavInfo of China and Increment P (IPC)/Pioneer of Japan — will make a standardized high-definition map of North America, Europe and Asia by 2020, according to SK Telecom. The company provides domestic users with the driving navigation platform T-map.
“In the era of autonomous driving, cars will share and receive real-time data about what’s happening on the road, and this is where HD maps and advanced connectivity will play a crucial role,” Ian Huh, the SVP IoT/Data Business Division head at SK Telecom, said in comments posted on the website of HERE Technologies. “With HD Live Map leveraging our 5G technology, SK Telecom will be at the heart of a powerful unified service for automakers.”
HD Live Map is a dynamic digital representation of the road environment that utilizes visual and other types of observations of millions of cars to make self-corrections, according to HERE Technologies.
HERE is a leading provider of high definition mapping whose HD Live Map service will cover more than 1 million kilometers of roads in North America, Europe, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2018.
HD Live Map is also designed to give vehicles an uninterrupted picture of the road environment — even when there’s a truck or building blocking the view — with awareness of upcoming lane configurations and their meaning, according to HERE Technologies.
Ralf Herrtwich, SVP Services at HERE Technologies, said automakers building automated cars are thinking globally and want an HD map that can work with them.
“By sourcing from the OneMap Alliance partners, automakers get to leverage a map that is fully harmonized across regions, offering the same high quality for their vehicles in the U.S. as it does in Europe and Asia. This simplified way of sourcing the map will also help reduce automakers’ development time and unnecessary costs,” Herrtwich said in comments posted on the website of HERE Technologies.
(Yonhap)
