HERE Launches Real-Time Traffic Services Built on Crowdsourced Connected Car Data

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3Q 2017 | IN-4683

HERE, a leader in digital mapping and location intelligence, has announced the launch of their first next-generation connected car services, built on data crowdsourced from BMW, Audi and Daimler models. HERE’s Open Location Platform aggregates anonymized GPS probe and ABS/hard-braking data sourced from millions of the three luxury vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) models that have already been deployed on the road. The location solutions leader already has compiled six months of data ingestion, with the quality of insight from automotive grade sources driving a significant increase in quality of service for the consumer.

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Luxury Brand Co-opetition

NEWS


HERE, a leader in digital mapping and location intelligence, has announced the launch of their first next-generation connected car services, built on data crowdsourced from BMW, Audi and Daimler models.  HERE’s Open Location Platform aggregates anonymized GPS probe and ABS/hard-braking data sourced from millions of the three luxury vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) models that have already been deployed on the road.  The location solutions leader already has compiled six months of data ingestion, with the quality of insight from automotive grade sources driving a significant increase in quality of service for the consumer.

HERE’s real-time traffic service (first announced at the Paris Auto Show last year) compiles this new connected car sensor data with other data sets to identify traffic flow patterns and incidents to re-route consumers around trouble spots and minimize their journey time. This is the first in a suite four services which HERE intends to develop or augment using automotive-grade sensor data sourced from connected vehicles.

Traffic, Safety, and Quality of Life Benefits

IMPACT


HERE’s latest solution supports OEM customers in delivering considerable safety and convenience improvements for their consumers. A United Nations report envisions that the percentage of the global population residing in urban regions will increase from 54% three years ago to 66% by 2050. Severe congestion, already a burden, is leading cities to spend great effort and expense on urban expansion, with a renewed emphasis on traffic flow and smart infrastructure. According to 2015 U.S. Census data, Americans spent a staggering 1.8 trillion minutes in total commuting time, with mega-commutes growing.  Other global cities with significantly growing traffic congestion include Beijing, Sao Paulo, London, Paris and Mexico City.   

Therefore, the traffic problem facing consumers is significant and is only expected to grow in the medium term, with increasing urbanization and the relentless climb in the number of vehicles registered on the road. HERE’s analytics, triangulated with the OEM’s vast sensor data, is expected to enrich the accuracy of projected destination timing by revealing more congestion-free routes.This is made possible by advanced algorithms, locating divergent speeds and traffic flow environments across multiple-lanes, with more detailed analysis for arterial roads.

Automotive-Grade Data for Great QoS

COMMENTARY


Any effective traffic information service is dependent on widespread, real time insight into traffic flow.  Most solutions to date have relied almost exclusively on millions of GPS probe data from numerous connected devices, including smartphones and personal navigation devices (PNDs). HERE differentiates their solution by employing automotive grade sensor data, focusing on the quality of insights into traffic flow. ABS hard-braking sensor data can provide an unprecedented insight into hard braking events which in turn have a significant impact in traffic flow. The difficulty to date has been the integration of connected data from enough vehicles to develop the necessary critical mass required to deliver a meaningful service over a significant geographical area. HERE is in a unique position, largely owned by three premium OEMs, with the potential for further OEMs to contribute to the sensor ingestion process in the future.

There are two megatrends driving the equipment of sensors to connected vehicle: active / safety ADAS, and autonomous driving, with an increasing number of semi-autonomous model launches anticipated in the coming years. Audi expects the 2018 A8 to be the first global production car to achieve Level 3 autonomy,leveraging theirAI Traffic Jam Pilot.   The vehicle is expected to sell in Europe first, later this year for approximately €90,600, or US$103,000, with plans for a U.S. launch, soon after. The new 2018 Mercedes S-Class, estimated at US$147,700 comes with a semi-autonomous package including a better camera and radar, as well as more abundant map and navigation data. The 2018 BMW M760i xDrive, with an estimated price of US$156,700, includes remote parking and a variety of advanced safety package options with some self-driving capabilities. 

Therefore, the volume of vehicle sensor data will continue to grow exponentially. Recent estimates of 25 gigabytes per hour for a connected car featuring the additional assisted driving features, coming in 2018 models, will evolve in autonomous vehicles, and may reach 40 terabytes every eight hours, according to Intel.  These highly networked cars will need a method to share their high-volume sensor data messages safely, effectively, and seamlessly with the cloud and back to the vehicle and driver. 

In the meantime, however, HERE’s real-time traffic service demonstrates that low-bandwidth sensor data, such as ABS activation, can still be leveraged intelligently to enable OEMs to deliver a higher quality of connected service to their consumers, with obvious scope for applications outside of traffic services.

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