HERE HD Live Map, which is all set to be deployed in connected vehicles in North America and Western Europe, offers a highly detailed and dynamic representation of the road environment, enabling autonomous vehicles to "see around corners" – which is something the on-board sensors otherwise aren't able to detect.

The map is the first self-maintaining map in the world, meaning it is updated and delivered in near real-time through multiple modes of sensor aggregation and ingestion. The includued data tends to have high permanency, such as lane level information, temporal data, such as road construction, traffic and accidents information; also very important is the analytics data, which also includes speed profile information instructing the vehicle on how to adjust the drive based on actual human behavior data in any given situation.

The digital map is – with the help of all the vehicles that are currently on the road that are ecxhanging information via cloud – constantly updated in near-real time. If, for example, vehicle sensors detect a speed limit sign which is inconsistent with what is currently in the map or a new lane closure is reported, the map instantly updates accordingly and the other vehicles approaching the same spot have the new, correct information available directly from the cloud. HD Live Map is also data-efficient, as it only requires a very small data footprint – new events (updates) are layered on the map without the need to update the whole map itself, so the file sizes are in fact small, thus reducing bandwidth requirements.

Floris van de Klashorst, VP Automotive at HERE, said: "As we move towards higher levels of vehicle automation, drivers need to feel that their car is making the right decisions on their behalf. When it comes to trusting your car, having consistent real-time awareness of road conditions near and far is absolutely critical. With HD Live Map serving this need, we believe it will become the car industry's most intelligent vehicle sensor."