TomTom and Zenuity team up to create the self-driving cars of the future

By Lulu Chang Published January 9, 2018

TomTom — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Creating the self-driving cars of the future will require plenty of partnerships and collaborations, and the two latest companies to team up with a common goal in mind are TomTom and Zenuity. At CES 2018, the pair announced its intentions to join forces on end-to-end autonomous driving system software. The new project will be called “Zenuity Connected Roadview,” and will feature TomTom’s HD mapping technology to drive the localization, perception, and path planning in Zenuity’s autonomous driving software stack. When combined with on-vehicle sensors including cameras, radar, and lidar, this technology ought to result in a constantly updated map for self-driving vehicles to refer to.

The hope is that Zenuity Connected Roadview will provide cars with a more complete picture of local road geometry, which could aid in smoother braking when taking a turn, or continued steering assistance even in the absence of lane markers. TomTom’s HD Map already boasts quite comprehensive coverage of the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. Indeed, the company has mapped more than 236,000 miles across these three regions to date, and as such, its partnership with Zenuity should be a fruitful one. All map data will be streamed to Zenuity Connected Roadview via TomTom AutoStream, a new map delivery service for autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems that made its debut at CES this year.

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“We’re committed to working with smart partners like Zenuity who share our vision to accelerate the future of driving,” said Willem Strijbosch, TomTom’s head of autonomous driving. “This collaboration proves the value of the TomTom HD Map and TomTom AutoStream as critical components for autonomous vehicles.”

Zenuity’s first driver assistance products should be available for sale by next year, and autonomous driving technologies may follow soon after.

“We determined early on that working closely with an experienced partner like TomTom is key for us in making ADAS/AD real,” said Zenuity CEO Dennis Nobelius. “TomTom holds ideal knowledge and technology for our autonomous driving software offers and, just as important, TomTom shares our commitment to safety that is paramount to the autonomous driving experience. Together, we will lead the industry with innovative solutions for all OEMs.”

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Technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives. Once a week in The Future Of, we examine innovations in important fields, from farming to transportation, and what they will mean in the years and decades to come.

Stroll around any CES (virtual or otherwise) in the last decade and it’s impossible to miss all the feels the tech industry has for transportation, self-driving cars in particular. Every major technology company has its fingers in cars, from the infotainment systems powered by Google and Apple to the operating systems driven by Blackberry and Linux to the components and circuits that make up the car itself, built by Qualcomm and Nvidia and NXP and a dozen more. (And don't get me started about this Apple Car nonsense.)