SAIC self-driving cars at GoMentum Station in Concord, California. Credit: DeepMap.

DeepMap is set to partner with SAIC Motor Innovation Center under a multi-year collaboration for high-definition (HD) mapping and localisation that forms an important part of autonomous vehicle (AV) software.

SAIC Motor Innovation Center has currently deployed DeepMap software in its self-driving test cars, which are in operation at a private testing facility GoMentum Station in Concord, California, US.

The cars are also in operation on public roads near the SAIC Motor Innovation Center facility in San Jose.

DeepMap CEO and co-founder James Wu said: “In AV development, HD mapping is one of the most complex challenges.

“This partnership is designed to complement the SAIC team’s progress in developing safe, production-ready self-driving technology in-house.”

“This partnership is designed to complement the SAIC team’s progress in developing safe, production-ready self-driving technology in-house.”

DeepMap’s service enables self-driving cars to navigate in the real world by addressing high-definition mapping, real-time localisation and the serving infrastructure to support massive global scaling.

The technology is said to be capable of mapping the roads to the centimetre level, informs the vehicle about its precise location and updates the map in real time by sharing updates with other vehicles.

SAIC Motor Innovation Center president Maxwell Huang said: “AVs require a completely new mapping paradigm: high-definition maps built by AVs for AVs, with ultra-precise accuracy and highly robust map consumption software.

“DeepMap’s technology vision and business model are in line with the mission of SAIC.”