The mapping market is at a tipping point - set to grow at over 35% over the next 10 years and launching new companies and new technologies as vehicles gain more autonomy. Lots of innovation and startups to review at this meeting, from HD maps and mapping data to validation, sensors, precision location, standardization and more.
Silicon Valley, California, August 17 2021/Meeting Recap/ At the Autotech Council's meeting on Mapping and Localization, we experimented with our newest dual format meetings. Driven by the times, we and many others were pushed into the virtual meeting world. This turned out to be a fairly easy transition, as Autotech Council had been testing remote-attendance technology for a year prior. As it happens, hosting a single-track virtual meeting is not much harder than a single-track in-person meeting. But we, and many of our members are eager to get back to face-to-face networking at on-site meetings. These, however, require bridging the virtual world with the real world -- a task that turns out to be quite challenging.
In a way, this challenge is already known to the auto industry. For example, it's relatively easy this decade to put a map in the center console screen of a car. It's even easy for that map to be High-definition and 3D. But to INTEGRATE that 3D HD map in a heads up display, merged with the real world…well, that's a bigger challenge. That is why AR is a big challenge to get right. How do you merge the virtual and the physical? Well, the Council will attack the challenge, just as the carmakers do, and we'll get better every iteration.
But, on the subject of HD Maps, and Localization, we enjoyed a vibrant meeting with presenters and attendees both onsite and coming in from around the world over the Internet. Our analyst for the day, Andrew Hart, CEO at SBD Automotive, set the stage with some great data and insights on the state of the art in automotive mapping. Notably, Andrew closed with a run-down of the opportunities for business in the sector.
Next up on the agenda was a dive into the subject of the Data for HD mapping. We had a trio of contributors from HERE run us through the importance of data in the HD maps world. Collection, crowd-sourcing, quality control, hosting, freshness, new business models, and simulation all figured in the discussion with Sheila Nedelcu (Senior Dir. Automotive Products) on the virtual side, and Olivier Ricordel & Pat Mitchell in the on-site room.
From there, we switched into our signature session, the Rapid Fire innovator pitches, where we heard from 8 companies with interesting solutions in the mapping or localization sector.
It was great to get many people back into the room together, albeit with COVID mitigations. We hope can continue to get together with precautions more and more, and that we'll perfect the art of the hybrid meetings as the pandemic moves into the rear view mirror. The current stats are disheartening, but we're going to keep being careful but optimistic, and prepared for a return towards a new normal.
Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to our speakers. Members can find their presentations in the member library at the link below.