Dat project van de overheid in Japan heet Dynamic Map Platform (DMP)en is in 2016 gestart. Het lijkt erop dat Ushr, bekend van het GM Super Cruise System in de Cadillac CT6, de HD-maps maakt en levert aan DMP, dus aan Nissan, Mazda, Honda en Toyota.
Ushr, the Detroit-based developer of high-definition maps used in General Motors Super Cruise system is being acquired by Japan’s Dynamic Map Platform Co. (DMP) Ushr was itself spun off from GeoDigital in spring of 2017. The price of the acquisition has not been disclosed.
The partially automated Super Cruise system debuted on the 2018 Cadillac CT6 sedan and was the first production system to utilize HD maps for geofencing. Ushr has a fleet of vehicles equipped with high-resolution surveying lidar. The vehicles were used to map more than 130,000 miles of divided highways before the debut of Super Cruise. The maps include road contour and elevation information that can be used to automatically slow the car down if it is going to fast to safely go through a curve.
For safety reasons, GM uses the maps to restrict where Super Cruise can be enabled, the first such application in the industry. Other manufacturers including Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo do not have any such geographic restrictions on their systems. Highly automated vehicles like those being developed by Waymo, GM Cruise and Ford also have geofencing restrictions.
DMP was launched in 2016 with primary funding from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan as well as investments from most of the major Japanese automakers including Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda. Ahead of the Ushr acquisiton, DMP got a capital infusion of 18 billion yen ($162 million) to fund acquisitions and growth.
Initially, Ushr will continue to operate as it has and VP, business development and marketing Brian Radloff said that all of the staff will be retained. Ushr and DMP have different map building processes so it will take some time to integrate them. In the meantime, Radloff expects to be able to announce a second production program in the not too distant future.