We’ve all likely seen Google Maps cars that are used to bring us Street View as well as the most up-to-date mapping as possible. In fact, Apple has even started rolling out their own cars for Apple Maps to get up-to-date data. However, Toyota has a plan that could make this obsolete. Most of our cars have GPS and cameras these days, so why not utilize that to update mapping data? That’s what Toyota wants to do.
At CES next month in Las Vegas, Toyota is planning to show off a brand new map-generating technology which data is crowdsourced. Which means that the data will be constantly updated. Toyota thinks that one of the biggest issues with Google’s mapping solution is that cars must drive down roads that have been covered already, for updates. And this would fix that. Toyota would be using a whole fleet of map generators on the roads, the car maker believes that the power of having many cars out there on the roads, will make up for the lack equipment that Google and Apple use for their maps. The car maker also believes that their image-matching technology can take measurements from multiple cars. And it would be accurate down to 5-centimeters.
Toyota is also looking to bring this technology to their automated vehicles. They would begin with highways and then work on down to side roads. Another interesting feature that Toyota believes would be part of this project is hazard avoidance. One good example that Toyota gives is the ability to point out potholes using their cloud-based image tech. This way they can warn other drivers of potholes and to avoid them. As most of us know, potholes can really damage your tires and such.
This would be a pretty big deal, and also shows us why Toyota has decided to omit both Android Auto and Apple Carplay. As Toyota wants to use their own mapping technology over Google and even Apple’s. We should see more in a couple weeks at CES in Las Vegas. Toyota will likely be showing it off at the Detroit and Chicago auto shows which take place in the next couple of months as well.