For every Waymo, Uber, or OEM working on autonomous vehicles, there are dozens of startups providing the underlying technology to make autonomy possible.
Mobility Buzz took a look at some of the most cutting-edge companies involved in high-definition mapping, artificial intelligence, and centimeter-accurate positioning, which will all play crucial and specific roles in advancing autonomous tech.
Here are 3 startups that are powering the technology behind autonomous cars:
1. HERE
HERE’s HD Map captures billions of 3D points to model the road surface in real time.
In 2015, BMW AG, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit paid$2.7 billion for Nokia’s digital mapping service HERE and recently sold a 15% stake to Intel Corp. in January of this year. Suffice to say, the Chicago-based company is proving itself as a key player in HD mapping. The company’s Live Map is of particular interest since it is cloud-based and self-maintaining — meaning the map is constantly updated so any changes in road conditions are delivered over the air in a data-efficient manner.
One of HERE’s owners, Daimler, believes high-definition maps are crucial in order to make fully self-driving cars a reality.
“What is difficult to do is an exact location on a centimeter level,” Bernhard Weidemann, Daimler spokesperson for the autonomous driving division, told Mobility Buzz. High-definition maps not only offer a precise location, but they can also enrich the map with information like alerting the driver of an icy spot on the road, he added.
2. Drive.ai
Drive.ai uses deep learning and neural networks to teach its autonomous driving systems how to identify and detect objects, as well as learn decision-making skills and even communication with other drivers and passengers.
Earlier this month, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company showed off its technology in use for the first time, with a demo video showing the company’s test vehicle making its way through the streets of Mountain View during a rainy night. Inclement weather and nighttime driving are especially challenging for autonomous driving software, because of reduced visibility for optical sensors and overall interference with sensors due to the sound of rain.
Swift Navigation offers hardware and software that makes GPS positioning technology available for autonomous vehicle and device guidance. Standard GPS devices are incredibly inaccurate for autonomous vehicles as they can only locate a car within several meters, opening up the potential for accidents if a car was to drift from its lane.
The San Francisco, Calif.-based company’s latest product, the Piksi Multi GNSS, provides accuracy within 2 centimeters and is considerably affordable at only $595. While vision, radar, LiDAR, and inertial play critical roles, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is the only sensor that outputs absolute time, position and velocity, according to the company’s website. Swift’s technology allows for autonomous vehicles to maintain their position in situations where there is inclement weather, no lane markings, or a lack of visible features.
Co-founders Fergus Noble, 29, and Colin Beighley, 28, were also a part of the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Consumer Technology list.
