HERE Predictive Traffic (video}

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What is the key to ensuring the worldwide acceptance of self-driving cars? Is it the data-driven services they use? Or the level of road information they have access to? While both of these are vital, trust from both drivers and pedestrians that autonomous vehicles are safe and can be relied upon is equally important.

 

If you are crossing the road, what do you do? Eight out of ten people seek eye contact with the driver to ensure that they’re safe to cross the street. With an autonomous car this is impossible. Well, until now.

Semcon, a Swedish company which works on both digital and physical product development, has created a concept of a self-driving car which interacts with pedestrians and drivers by smiling. We spoke with Karin Eklund, Head of User Experience at Semcon to find out more:
“The Smiling Car is a concept that we’ve been working on for some years now. When autonomous cars started becoming more sophisticated, we noticed that for the most part people were focusing on the interaction between the car and the driver.
“We then realised that this can’t be the only focus, and that the people in the environment around the car had to be taken into consideration.”

Road test

 In order to create the concept of the Smiling Car, the Semcon team had to investigate the way pedestrians reacted to autonomous vehicles in traffic. Karin says, “We wanted to see how people would cross the road if the car letting them through was autonomous. How will the person know it’s safe? Do they know that the car has seen them?”

This test, which used a faux-autonomous car with rigged cameras to see how pedestrians would react, resulted in an amusing but informative video. People were completely unsure about the intentions of the autonomous vehicle, and trepidation and fear was the order of the day when crossing a road.
Indeed, non-autonomous vehicles have break lights, indicators, and the reactions of the driver to give cues and comfort to people around the car. Karin explains how they tried to mirror this with a driverless vehicle:
“The basis for the concept was, how do we let people know that the car has seen them, and that it’s safe? We needed a means of communication that was universal, letting people know that the car has registered their presence in a clear way, that’s obvious to everyone. Everyone needs to feel safe, so we wanted to provide a human touch.”

Cheshire car

 

This lead to the development of the Smiling Car – a means of expression universal enough to work, wherever it’s used. The Smiling Car would let pedestrians know that it’s safe to cross by, you guessed it, smiling. How, though, would this work?




Karin explains: “The Smiling Car would work using radar, and through data collection points in the city. The latter is because the car not only has to interact with pedestrians, but also understand the road networks and other autonomous cars and drivers on the road.”
“With such a huge number of data points all around us, we’d have to look at how the vehicle could combine these in clever ways in order to make smart decisions. This is a challenge, but we’re working on it.”
Karin describes the other challenges that the team faced when developing the Smiling Car: “People are unpredictable! When developing technology, you know what you have to do, but making it safely interact with people who are unpredictable is difficult.”
“Another challenge is that, in order for this to work, there has to be a lot of interaction between different systems within the vehicle, and this technology is growing increasingly complex and communicating in new ways all the time. This can lead to complexities and poses a challenge for developers.”

In transition

 

The transition to self-driving cars will, of course, see a degree of debate. Karin stresses that when people aren’t used to a technology there is a lack of trust to begin with and that the people behind the technology have to work hard to gain the trust of the user. She adds:
“However, when this level of trust is achieved, and the technology is accepted, people can’t imagine their lives without it.”



Indeed, Karin goes on to explain that by using human expressions, Semcon hopes to help drive this
widespread adoption. She uses the example of self-propelled lawnmowers, which are often made to look less machine-like in order to gain trust.
She adds, “A level of familiarity inspires trust, which means you’re more likely to use it. You’re also less likely to leave it out in the rain!”
When asked on the wider implications of the Smiling Car, Karin concludes:
“It’s very easy for developers to focus on the tech and the people using it, while forgetting about bystanders who are also affected. What’s most important is finding a universal way for automotive cars to communicate, not only amongst themselves and the driver, but with everyone else, too.”
“A balancing act is required. Humans are just as important as the technology, and we should never forget that.”

HERE Real-Time Traffic improves safety and makes life easier for drivers

Following the announcement of HERE’s new services powered by sensor data from multiple car makers, we are taking a closer look at each of the services and how they will impact drivers, and the wider effect they can have on the automotive industry. In this instalment, we take a look at the updated HERE Real-Time Traffic service.

We spoke with Carrie Cox, Senior Product Marketing Manager on the HERE automotive team, who helped to develop the service.

“We recently announced the launch of three new services, as well as a significant update to HERE Real-Time Traffic service. These enhancements that were made as part of the next-gen service announcement are really benefiting both current and future customers.”

Data-driven

The updated service represents improvements across the board, with more accurate insights into traffic status and disruptions being made available quicker than ever, and with better coverage. Carrie tells us more about how these features are being powered:

“First, we’re getting GPS probe data and, thanks to the consortium of car makers (BMW, Audi and Mercedes), we have access to more probe data, which helps us to make our flow data more precise and more granular, particularly on lower-class arterial roads”

“Second, we now have access to the sensor data of these car makers. What we’re integrating into HERE Real-Time Traffic service is the hard-brake sensor, which picks up a sharp deceleration in the car.”

Carrie explains how the GPS data available helps to identify traffic jams and when vehicles are slowing down for an obstruction, but stresses that this sensor data helps to identify wide moving jams – essentially severe traffic jams that are building very rapidly – much more quickly and with a higher degree of accuracy than ever before.

Faster detection of hard-braking events allows us to deliver Traffic Safety Warnings more quickly – alerting cars in the area that they need to slow down, improving safety on the roads.

Aiding autonomy

Carrie also mentions that the service has one eye on the future and, in-particular, the autonomous vehicle. She explains:

“This data, and HERE Real-Time Traffic can certainly aid the future of autonomous driving. Our HD Live Map product is made of three components – the HD map, the activity layer and the analytics layer. The second piece is what we’re talking about here – live information.”

“This includes traffic flow, accidents, construction sites. All of this is coming through our traffic feed today, and it’s incredibly important for autonomous vehicles to not only know how the road is laid out, but also receive information on traffic, construction and other things that are happening dynamically throughout the day so that the car can prepare and react appropriately.”

So, what next for Real-Time Traffic? Carrie adds:

“First of all, we’d like more car makers to collaborate around these services and share their data because the more data we have, the richer and more accurate the product can be. We’d love to faster identify the hard-braking events, and continue to make Real-Time Traffic an even better product than it is today.”

Carrie also discusses how innovation is still key for the service, with first-to-market features like split-lane traffic a key focus of the team. This is lane-level traffic information for drivers preparing to enter a junction so – is there a queue, is the traffic free flowing, which lane should I be in to avoid congestion?

She adds, “This information is saving drivers time, so we are seeing how we can build upon this success and continue to drive innovation into our traffic service.”

Proof points

The new features were recently demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show, and Carrie explains that the reception was positive:

“People understood the value this data provides, and the fact that HERE Real-Time Traffic is being enhanced and enriched by this data for no extra cost really resonated.”

She concludes: “This is the first traffic service to leverage rich sensor data from multiple car makers, offering better accuracy and improved traffic flow coverage. For the driver, this could be invaluable.”

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New HERE Maps pricing

New HERE Maps pricing Published: October 24, 2016 Effective immediately HERE has launched new licensing for their cloud service. This new licensing enables you to pick and choose additional features without having to pay for features you may not use. Market-leading research and consulting firm Ovum recently rated the HERE Open Location Platform as the most complete on their “Location Platform Index” in comparison to the other 15 location platform vendors (including Google, Apple and TomTom) in mapping and navigation. If you’ve looked at HERE licensing before and are interested in keeping up to date or you have a renewal with another mapping supplier and wish to ensure you are getting the best deal, then call the Grey Matter mapping team to discuss your requirements on 01364 655 133. VIA

The future is HERE

HD Live Map for autonomous cars

Offline: HERE Maps vs Google Maps

HERE and automotive industry leaders taking next steps to drive global standard for in-vehicle data

HERE and automotive industry leaders taking next steps to drive global standard for in-vehicle data

Berlin, Germany and Auburn Hills, Michigan - HERE, a leader in mapping, navigation and location experiences, along with participants from a dozen companies from the automotive industry assembled yesterday in Auburn Hills, Michigan to continue their joint efforts to drive a global standard for how in-vehicle sensor data is transmitted to a location cloud. The aim of this effort is to accelerate the development of automated driving and to ensure that the results are available globally. Any interested party can find out more and join here.

The range of participants, which included representatives from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, INRIX, Robert Bosch GmbH and TomTom, demonstrates the importance of collaboration to further the technological aspirations of the industry.

The event follows a successful initial gathering in Berlin this summer where 16 automotive, companies, system vendors and suppliers met to kick off a discussion about establishing an interface that defines how sensor data gathered by vehicles on the road can be ingested by the cloud. As cars become connected to the Internet they will generate tremendous amounts of data. The ability to share this data across all car makers globally, while protecting driver privacy, is essential to making automated driving a reality.

With a standard format for this data, modern vehicles can more easily transmit to the cloud information about road conditions in real-time to improve safety for drivers.  The data generated would be analogous regardless of vehicle manufacturer and could be pooled, processed and analyzed quickly to create a detailed live view of traffic conditions.

"Connectivity is transforming the automotive industry and soon cars will generate tremendous amounts of data that can be used to reduce the number of accidents and congestion on the roads," said Ogi Redzic, Senior Vice President of Automotive at HERE. "An accident free future becomes more likely when as many industry players as possible around the world can work together to help cars get the full picture of the road ahead."

At the Auburn Hills event participants discussed technical issues such as data content, security, anonymization, technical accuracy and efficiency. In addition participants addressed how best to hand over the specification to a neutral standards body to ensure cooperation among all industry players globally. HERE has already had initial discussions with two leading standards organizations on the swift handover of the initial proposed specification, which has been made available through a creative commons license.

"Our goal is to find a home for this specification that is open, accessible to all members and non-members and global," said Redzic.

"This data-focused initiative intended to enhance driving safety extends beyond the collection, interpretation and integration of data to the very process of collaboration that is redefining the purpose of vehicle connectivity," said Roger Lanctot, Associate Director, Strategy Analytics.    "In the brave new connected world facing the industry, car companies will for the first time begin to share data for the greater collective good."

On November 4, HERE will gather automotive companies from across Asia at an event in Tokyo to further drive industry collaboration.

To know more about the standard for how in-vehicle sensor data is transmitted to a location cloud, read our official blog, HERE 360.

Media Enquiries:
HERE Communications
https://company.here.com/newsroom/contacts/
Email: press@here.com

About HERE
HERE, a Nokia company, is a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences. We build high-definition (HD) maps and combine them with cloud technology to enable rich, real time location experiences in a broad range of connected devices - from smartphones and tablets to wearables and vehicles. To learn more about HERE, including our work in the areas of connected and automated driving, visit http://360.here.com.

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New Map data updated for Android Windows Phone & iOS

New Map data updated for Android, Windows Phone & iOS, from HERE. Version 8.30.60.106 or Q3/2015.

HERE convenes industry forum to discuss vehicle sensor data transmission specifications

HERE convenes industry forum to discuss vehicle sensor data transmission specifications.
Participants agree common interface format is critical next step for autonomous vehicle development

Berlin, Germany - HERE, a leader in mapping, navigation and location experiences, recently brought together a diverse group of automotive companies, system vendors and suppliers to discuss the establishment of an interface format for how in-vehicle sensor data is transmitted to a location cloud. Modern vehicles collect vast sums of information on road and traffic conditions through onboard sensors, all of which can be utilized to improve the safety and experience of nearby drivers, such as real-time map updates and alerts on traffic or hazardous conditions ahead. If vehicles transmit sensor data in different formats, however, the ability for a cloud to efficiently aggregate and analyze the data at scale is lost and benefits to the driver become less realized.

During the forum held at HERE in Berlin, Germany, participants representing 16 companies agreed the industry must define a format in which vehicle sensor data is ingested by a location cloud. Additionally, participants discussed a range of technical issues, including data content, security, anonymization, and transmission accuracy and efficiency based on the ingestion interface specification recently published by HERE.

"The ability to transmit in real-time sensor data across different vehicles on the road requires deep industrywide collaboration," said Dietmar Rabel, head of product management for the automated driving program at HERE. "But when we do, the result should be fewer accidents and more efficient journeys, as well as moving the industry closer to its aspiration for cars that can fully understand their environment and drive themselves."

A recent forecast by automotive technology research firm SBD predicts that, by 2020, over 30 million vehicles will be sold annually with built-in connectivity, generating more than 163 million terabytes of data each year via their dozens of on-board cameras and sensor technologies.

"As more connected vehicles come to market, Continental looks forward to participating in the industry's effort to define how vehicle sensor data gets transmitted and processed. This is important for Continental's eHorizon project where we merge data from different car makers in a backend. The discussions at this forum were incredibly robust, key issues to address were identified - such as how to transmit accurate sensor information given that every OEM will have different sensors on board - and I believe we now have a solid foundation for our work ahead," said Ronald Hain, head of back-end development team at Continental who participated in the forum.

The creation of a common specification for in-vehicle sensor data is prerequisite to an industry standard, following a similar approach taken by HERE and its industry peers to usher in ADAS Interface Specification. In the upcoming weeks and months HERE will re-engage industry peers across the globe to establish a formal working group on sensor ingestion standardization.

To read an interview with Continental's Ronald Hain please visit this link. To learn more about HERE, along with detailed information on our recently published sensor data ingestion interface specification, visit 360.here.com.

Media Enquiries:
HERE Communications
https://company.here.com/newsroom/contacts/
Email: press@here.com

HERE for Android Beta new (Greek) (home button & transit preview)

HERE is the strongest player in the booming location business

A new, annual report from research consultancy Strategy Analytics covers the progress of maps and location-based services from all the major players in the industry.

We are delighted to discover that HERE wins a number of plaudits from the researchers.

In ‘Future Growth Opportunities for Mobile Location Services‘,  Strategy Analytics observes a series of key trends that are pushing the acceleration and value of location services:

More people than ever have access to a GPS device of some kind. This is largely driven by a growth in the low-end smartphone segment, and an improvement in the capabilities of these phones: 70 per cent of these lower-end devices now include GPS and WiFi, the report says.

Nitesh Patel, Director of Wireless Media Strategies at Strategy Analytics, told HERE 360: “Location-based services are one of the core services which underpin the digital revolution. Wherever you are in the world, you need to know how to get there, and how to connect with people and businesses nearby you. More than ever consumers are relying on location based services to get answers to those questions”.

A second factor driving growth is the mobile advertising business, already worth $40bn a year. Now advertisers are looking to location services to improve efficiency, testing the power of using people’s location to determine which ads they see, or to understand more about their lives.

The business opportunities around indoor location are also growing as venue owners and stores start to see the commercial value of being able to provide and customise maps of their locations. However, the report concedes that it’s still early days when it comes to realising the potential of this technology.

The rise of wearable devices is predicted to continue, and users will get the best out of these when they carry rich location-based services to provide contextual information.

Putting the car in your pocket

In the automotive sector, the report notes the importance to car-makers of creating their own mobile phone apps to build customer engagement.

It says that in their planned acquisition of HERE, BMW, Audi and Daimler have gained access to a platform for creating “a full door-to-door navigation experience” throughHERE Auto apps not only in the car, but on the desktop and owner’s smartphones.

Leading the pack

Assessing the relative strength of different maps and location suppliers, HERE wins out against the competition in most measurements, according to Strategy Analytics.

HERE is awarded the report’s highest rating – and current industry leadership – in map and navigation coverage, indoor location, platform reach (the number of different devices and operating systems we cover), visualisation, offline use and in-vehicle connectivity.

[VIA]

The latest and greatest from HERE in under 2 minutes

Nokia Announces HERE Maps Offers Real Time Traffic in 50 Countries

Bulgaria and Romania are the latest additions

Nokia is still assessing the bids it got last week for its HERE maps business. Until the Finnish company takes a decision and names the company that won, HERE developers have just released a new update for the maps application.

The update, while important for users in a few countries, comes with a long blog post that announces HERE maps now offers real time traffic solutions in no less than 50 countries.

The latest additions on the list of countries where real time traffic is available are Bulgaria and Romania. Furthermore, Nokia also announced that it significantly expanded HERE maps coverage in the Middle East, adding live traffic data to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

According to Nokia, its HERE maps application comes with innovative new features like reversible express lane coverage.

These types of express lanes, where the direction of the lane can change depending on rush hour or congestion, HERE real time traffic updates the direction of traffic flow.

Additional innovative features have been added too

But there's more, as Nokia states that Traffic safety warning have been added too, so that the application can prompt drivers to slow down in anticipation of a quickly building traffic jam ahead, even before it becomes visible.

“HERE Real-Time Traffic is the most comprehensive, global traffic service commercially available on the market today. With HERE Real-Time Traffic, Predictive Traffic, Traffic Patterns and Analytics, HERE is clearly leading the industry in advanced traffic content and services,” says Tony Belkin, Director of Traffic and Dynamic Content for HERE.

You can now download HERE for Android for free via Google Play Store. The application should be fully compatible with all devices powered by Android 4.1 and up.

For iOS users, the application is available for free through App Store. It should work smoothly on all devices running iOS 7.0 or later.

Last but not least, HERE for Windows Phone if available for free via Windows Phone Store. It should be fully compatible with all devices powered by Windows Phone 8 and up.

[VIA]

The new Jaguar XJ debuts with HERE Auto guidance