Earlier this year, we introduced HD Live Map to help car manufacturers make autonomous vehicles a reality. Because the HD Live Map is not a map for humans, but for machines, we created a video demonstration of the product that explains how it works, and what it means for the automotive industry. You can see it in action in the video below.

The HD Live Map is the first of its kind, enabling a vehicle to effectively “see around corners” by creating a highly detailed and dynamic representation of the road environment. Alex Mangan, product marketing manager for connected driving, has explained what makes the product so unique:

“HD Live Map deviates significantly from previous mapping products. What we have done so far is mapping apps for humans. HD Live Map is a map for machines.”

The video demonstration showcases the HD Live Map, a tiled and layered product that is delivered as a cloud service. Within these tiles are three layers. The first is the mapping layer, which is made up of a lane model, a precise representation of the road network, and the localisation model, which helps a vehicle establish its position.

Next is the activity layer, which records short-term changes to the road network, including lane closures and accidents. The final layer is the analytics layer, which describes how people drive on these roads, and groups driving styles together into profiles. This allows HERE to inform the vehicle how to behave, based on how humans react on the same roads.

The HD Live Map is a product to help automotive companies take a significant step forward in the development of self-driving vehicles. Alex adds, “At HERE, one of our key missions is making the vision of automated driving a reality.”

Check out the video above, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.