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first published week of: 12/04/2017
( Engadget/Richard Lai
True collection vehicle v3.0 is all about high-definition mapping.
It may have been a while since we last we came across a Here 3D mapping vehicle, but that's not to say the company hasn't been using its cars lately. In fact, the Here True collection vehicle is now in its third revision, and I got to hop on one -- based on a Volkswagen Golf Variant 280 TSI Highline -- during Computex. The ride features much faster D-GPS tracking that no longer requires a half-hour calibration (to reach an accuracy of under one meter), along with a Velodyne LiDAR with an accuracy of better than 2cm (within a range of up to 70 meters) and four 16.2-megapixel MARS panoramic cameras. This set of gear is almost identical to what we've seen before, so the real highlight this time is the updated backend to support high-definition mapping.
For HD mapping, Here's fleet is currently involved in over 20 projects worldwide and covering over 48,200 km per week, with each collection vehicle contributing around 500 km or over 1TB worth of data. The hard drives are then sent off for data processing, quality assurance plus final 3D modeling. With this 3D spatial data, future self-driving cars will not only be able to navigate around better, but they will also know the curvature and elevation of the roads, which can already help improve engine efficiency and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) well before autonomous driving goes mainstream.
Read full story at engadget…