Location technology specialist TomTom is collaborating with Delphi Technologies to help powertrains become predictive. The company is also working with DENSO on its software platform for autonomous vehicles.

Delphi's vehicle powertrain control system will be enriched with TomTom’s maps so it knows what’s up ahead. Map data such as speed limits and road gradient combine to control a vehicle’s speed, reducing energy consumption and helping to improve safety.

TomTom's High Definition (HD) Map will work in combination with DENSO in-vehicle sensors such as cameras and radars to power the localization, perception and path planning functions for a complete autonomous driving system.

This collaboration will allow DENSO to offer a system targeting Level 2 automation for highways and major urban roads, by leveraging the end-to-end mapping system developed together with TomTom.

As part of this agreement, DENSO will provide processed sensor data to TomTom’s end-to-end mapping system for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), updating TomTom’s HD Map on the fly. This will be achieved by generating crowdsourced map updates called Roadagrams which are used to ensure the HD Map reflects the reality of the road. Combined with sensor data from survey vehicles, TomTom can guarantee an accurate global HD Map. AutoStream – TomTom’s map delivery system – then delivers the latest map data to the vehicles on demand.

TomTom said that its maps for automated driving are powering over half a million Level 1 and Level 2-enabled automated vehicles on the road today.

As defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers, Level 1 encompasses automation of either lateral or longitudinal vehicle motion control, while Level 2 encompasses automation of lateral and longitudinal vehicle motion control.