General Motors plans to use data collected by its OnStar assistance service to instantly map road conditions and eventually enable fully autonomous driving.
Israeli visual software company Mobileye partnered with GM — its largest customer — to develop a continuously updated map through existing cameras on OnStar-equipped vehicles.
Mobileye's current EyeQ technology can identify landmarks and roadway information at low bandwidth levels. Eventually, officials hope to be accurate within 10 centimeters; conventional GPS systems can pinpoint only to about 10 meters.
“Creating and updating maps using on-board camera technology supplies the missing link between on-board sensing and the requirement for full redundancy to enable safe autonomous driving," said Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua.
GM development executive Mark Reuss said that the company plans to explore integrating Mobileye's Road Experience Management into 2016 program launches.
GM has conducted research on self-driving technology at Carnegie Mellon University for years and reportedly plans to deploy autonomous Chevrolet Volts near its Michigan research center this year.
