Thoughts on HD maps vs. AV maps

Every year I dive deep on an #AV topic at #CES. This year, it was mapping.

Most people who work in or follow AV tech still don’t understand that the current prevailing method for creating HD maps for AVs today are inadequate.

I know this is true in part because Mobileye too used this method while our crowdsourced method was in development. We learned two things during this process. First is that the map must be tightly coupled with all other stacks of the self-driving system, evident by the fact that all significant AV players develop their maps in-house (as far as we know). Second, and even more important, is that “pure” HD maps are over-specified in the geometric domain while suffering from under-specification in the semantic domain. Let me explain.

HD maps today offer cm-level accuracy of all roadway objects in global coordinates. In other words, all objects on the map, even those who are 5 miles away, will be perfectly positioned with respect to the AV’s location. This unnecessary level of accuracy results in a cumbersome and unwieldy map.

But then they are also under-specified on crucial semantic information. The semantic layer gives actionable meaning to all objects on the map. For example, positioning a stop sign on the map is one thing, but it also has to be associated with a specific lane and stop line. Furthermore, what is the optimal stopping point for this stop sign to ensure the maximal field of view? Perfect positioning of stop sign and stop line is not enough.

REM was built to solve these issues at scale. It’s a solution to deploy AVs globally with accuracy where it matters while harnessing the power of the crowd for unparalleled semantic richness. The many miles our AVs covered in different countries around the world prove that crowd is the only viable way to translate the geometric information into valuable insights that reflect both traffic rules and driving culture. And we have the crowd as well as the technology.

In many ways, the word map isn’t even the “right” word when we talk about AVs because it brings to mind street maps or navigational maps...I suggest we stop talking about HD maps, and start talking about something different – AV maps.