Nokia’s mapping business Here this week met with a group of car makers, tech firms and rival navigation provider TomTom in order to foster a common standard for uploading sensor data from cars to the cloud, and ultimately accelerate the development of driverless cars.
"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 a statement on Wednesday from Ogi Redzic, senior vice president of automotive at Here, which Nokia recently agreed to sell to a consortium of German car makers for €2.8 billion.
"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," he said.
In addition to Here, the meeting, held in Michigan, U.S., brought together a range of companies including Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Bosch, U.S.-based traffic intelligence specialist INRIX, and Dutch navigation firm TomTom.
The participants addressed technical issues such as data content, security, anonymization, accuracy, and efficiency, among others. They also discussed how best to provide the technical specification to a neutral standards body to ensure global adoption.
"Our goal is to find a home for this specification that is open, accessible to all members and non-members and global," said Redzic.
