Uncharted territory: Up-to-the-minute maps will be critical for autonomous cars

摘要

History's most intrepid explorers were often at the mercy of their maps. The self-driving cars of the future won't be any different Autonomous vehicles will sport sophisticated sensors and radar systems to read and react to their surroundings, but their robotic drivers still will require vivid and current roadmaps to put the various inputs into context. And creating those maps will require intense collaboration among auto industry players, map makers, technology companies and government, along with a heavy dose of crowd-sourcing, industry experts say. Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas Inc., sees a future in which cars and their various sensors will collect and share roadway data, updating maps with real-time information that would be used by all automakers "as a community" - akin to the Waze mobile navigation app, through which drivers alert one another to upcoming road closures, speed traps and traffic.