Toyota to Premiere New Map Generation Tech

To end 2015 with a bang, Toyota has announced its development of a high-precision map generation system designed to generate road maps covering a wide area.

The Japanese automaker confirmed that the system will use data from on-board cameras and GPS devices installed in production vehicles that will collect vehicle positional information and road images. The gathered information will then be sent to data centers, where it will be pierced together, corrected and updated to create high precision road maps.

For Toyota, understanding traffic rules and road layouts is crucial for the successful implementation of automated driving technologies.

The all-new system will employ automated cloud-based spatial information generation technology to create high precision road image data from the databanks and GPS devices. The automaker mulls including the system as a key element in automated driving vehicles that will be featured in production vehicles by around 2020.

Toyota intends to use the system initially in expressways and plans the development of its functionality to cover ordinary roads and help in hazard avoidance. It also aims to join force with mapmakers to encourage the use of high precision map data in services provided by both the private and public sectors.