Qualcomm Drive Data Platform Powers TomTom’s Plans to Crowdsource High-Definition Mapping Data

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), has announced it is working with TomTom (TOM2), a global leader in navigation and mapping products, on using the Qualcomm® Drive Data Platform <https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2017/01/03/driving-redefined-how-qualcomm-drive-data-platform-can-change-transportation-we>  for high-definition (HD) map crowdsourcing, to accelerate the future of autonomous driving.  Qualcomm Drive Data Platform utilizes cutting-edge technologies to intelligently collect and analyze data from different vehicle sensors, supporting smarter vehicles to determine their location, monitor and learn driving patterns, perceive their surroundings and share this perception with the rest of the world reliably and accurately.  TomTom’s HD Map, including RoadDNA, is a revolutionary, highly accurate, digital map-based product, which assists automated vehicles to precisely locate themselves on the road and help determine which way to maneuver, even when traveling at high speeds.

Traditional development of maps requires deploying dedicated fleets of vehicles that are equipped with professional-grade sensors to collect location, raw imagery, Lidar and other data, which is then transferred, stored and processed in data centers. Now that cars are increasingly connected and equipped with a range of sensors, new and complimentary approaches become possible.

Using the precise positioning, on-device machine learning, heterogeneous compute and connectivity capabilities of the Qualcomm  Drive Data Platform, which features the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820Am <https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/820-automotive>  automotive processor, TomTom and Qualcomm Technologies aim to facilitate adding an improved, scalable and cost-efficient crowdsourcing approach to the mix of sources for HD map making. The new concept is designed to allow massive numbers of connected cars to see and understand their environment, traffic and road conditions, and support real-time input for map and road condition updates.

“Feature-rich, highly accurate and frequently updated HD maps are critical to support some of the most advanced applications envisioned in the automotive industry, especially for autonomous driving,” said Willem Strijbosch, head of autonomous driving, TomTom. “We are building the cloud-based platform to make and maintain HD maps using a range of input sources, including crowdsourced data from swarms of intelligent connected vehicles. We’re excited to explore the connectivity and compute capabilities of the Qualcomm Drive Data Platform to help map the world for the future of driving.”

“Qualcomm Technologies is demonstrating that an affordable and easy-to-integrate mapping solution for autonomous vehicles is realizable,” said Nakul Duggal, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The Qualcomm Drive Data Platform is designed to integrate key technologies into a cost-effective edge compute solution required to support safer, highly connected and smarter transportation, and we are pleased to offer this technology for HD Map providers such as TomTom as well as automakers, shared mobility service providers and automotive industry at large.”

Machine learning algorithms, running on the Snapdragon 820Am processor, are optimized using the Qualcomm®Snapdragon™ Neural Processing Engine <https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2016/05/02/qualcomm-helps-make-your-mobile-devices-smarter-new-snapdragon-machine>  toolkit, and are intended to identify features such as traffic signs and lane markers, and fuse this information with the precise positioning to generate feature-rich, highly accurate and lightweight map updates. This facilitates cars on the road to become live sensors that automatically update navigation services about real-time road conditions using the integrated X12 LTE modem of the Snapdragon 820Am. Object identification and classification processing runs on the heterogeneous cores of the Snapdragon processor, avoiding the need and cost of sending raw video over the network. The process is designed to further optimize over multiple iterations, running locally on the Snapdragon 820Am-powered platform, and then upload to the cloud for crowdsourcing. The result is a real-time HD map, constantly improving and with highly accurate location, for safer and advanced driving experiences.

More information about TomTom’s maps for highly automated driving can be downloaded here <http://automotive.tomtom.com/uploads/assets/700/1448543928-hadmap.pdf> .

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm’s technologies powered the smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. We pioneered 3G and 4G – and now we are leading the way to 5G and a new era of intelligent, connected devices. Our products are revolutionizing industries, including automotive, computing, IoT, healthcare and data center, and are allowing millions of devices to connect with each other in ways never before imagined. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio.  Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, all of our engineering, research and development functions, and all of our products and services businesses, including, our QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website <http://www.qualcomm.com/> , OnQ blog <http://www.qualcomm.com/blog> , Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/qualcomm>  and Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/qualcomm>  pages.

About TomTom Automotive

TomTom Automotive <http://automotive.tomtom.com/en>  is the trusted partner for innovative and future-proof navigation technology for the global automotive industry.  As a global leader in connected navigation software, traffic information, and digital real-time maps, we offer Automotive OEMs the modular components to create competitive infotainment systems, as well as the technology to enable the future self-driving cars to see beyond their sensors.