How to Build Maps for Self-Driving Cars (End-to-End)
On HD Mapping — an Introduction to Self-Driving Cars (Part 2)
The ability to get from one place to another, anywhere in the country, is one of the most remarkable gifts of our modern technology. Maps represent the real world on a much smaller scale. They help us travel from one location to another. They help us organize information when we plan for trips. They present us information about the world in a simple, visual way.
Maps are so useful that our dependence on automated directions like Google Maps has quite eroded our ability to navigate for ourselves — at least for me. GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky. However, their accuracy worsens near buildings, bridges, and trees. This meter-level accuracy would be terrible for safety critical use in applications like self-driving cars, e.g. when it needs to park itself or navigate in high traffic city streets.
HD Mapping for safety and accuracy
For safety’s sake, High Definition (HD) maps are needed.
