Open Location Platform company, HERE, has announced a new platform that will harness real-time data generated by the on-board sensors of connected vehicles, to “create a live depiction of the road environment”.
According to the company, drivers will be able to access this view of the road through four services that provide information on traffic conditions, potential road hazards, traffic signage and on-street parking at high quality.
While most traffic information services currently available to drivers rely on GPS probe data, the platform from HERE will utilise the “much richer” data generated by sensors embedded within cars. Initially, the data will be sourced from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars, however the company intends to eventually expand data collection to other car brands.
The platform will process vehicle-sourced data related to:
- The speed, direction and location of a vehicle
- Hard breaking, as denoted by sharp deceleration
- Road construction, land/road closures and traffic events such as accidents, as detected by the vehicle’s forward camera
- Hazard light usage
- Hazardous weather or road conditions, as determined for example by rain sensors, heavy use of windshield wipers, loss of tire traction or fog light usage
- Traffic sign information, including permanent and temporary speed limits, as detected by the car’s forward camera
This data will then be used to provide four services:
- Real-time Traffic: “A high-quality and low latency feed showing hard braking alerts; jam tail warnings, with improved coverage and positional accuracy; and traffic flow, with more precise and granular data also for lower-class arterial roads.”
- Hazard Warnings: “High-quality near real-time information about potential hazards, including accidents and extreme weather events, such as slippery roads and reduced visibility.”
- Road Signs: “Near real-time traffic signage information, including permanent and temporary speed limits, which is useful for both the driver as well as for cars equipped with connected ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) such as adaptive cruise control.”
- On-street Parking: “Provides information to drivers showing roads where parking is or is not permitted for each side of the street; availability predictions and time-to-park estimations for each street and at the particular time of day based on historical driver data; and streets with paid, free or lower-priced parking options.”
The company will unveil the platform at the Paris Motor Show this week, and plans to make its services commercially available to customers both within and outside the automotive industry in the first half of 2017.