Paris Motor Show, 2 October 2014- TomTom (TOM2) and Volkswagen Group Research today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to join forces for the development of Highly Automated Driving (HAD) systems.

The goal of this research co-operation is to jointly develop the digital map that is essential for automated driving. The two partners bundle their competencies by combining TomTom’s expertise in map content and map making with Volkswagen’s know-how about the car as well as automated driving.

The development of automated driving systems is highly complex. TomTom and Volkswagen aim to solve a part of this puzzle and have declared that they will jointly accomplish this.

“Partnering with Volkswagen Group Research to develop the future of HAD reaffirms TomTom’s position as a key partner in the automotive market,” said Harold Goddijn, CEO TomTom. “TomTom’s mapping expertise provides the precise data and scalable technology platform needed to enable highly automated driving in cars.”

Today the map that is used for navigation, including geometry, street names, and addressing, is not sufficient for the future needs of automated driving. The car’s computer will require much more accurate and up-to-date information about its location and environment than is provided today. This includes for example more detailed information lane markings and traffic lights.

TomTom and Volkswagen Research are working on a concept based on the “Navigation Data Standard” (NDS) to deliver scalable and cost effective automated driving systems that do not require expensive hardware.

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