NVIDIA has announced that it has acquired the start-up DeepMap, a firm that specialises in building high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles so that they can navigate on our roads more safely. With the purchase, NVIDIA inherits a company that has already produced mapping solutions for autonomous vehicles plus the expertise of its employees who have many decades of collective experience in mapping technology.
Commenting on the purchase, Ali Kani, vice president and general manager of Automotive at NVIDIA, said:
“The acquisition is an endorsement of DeepMap’s unique vision, technology and people. DeepMap is expected to extend our mapping products, help us scale worldwide map operations and expand our full self-driving expertise.
We are excited to welcome the DeepMap team to NVIDIA. They have a proven track record and are entrepreneurial, nimble and engineering-focused. DeepMap meets a deep need in the industry, and together we will develop and extend these capabilities.”
According to NVIDIA, maps accurate to a few meters are fine for turn-by-turn navigation for humans but when it comes to self-driving vehicles then the maps need to be accurate on the centimetre level. With DeepMap, NVIDIA will be able to incorporate highly accurate maps into its NVIDIA DRIVE product.
NVIDIA has also said that it will allow DeepMap to incorporate new capabilities and services for new and existing partners by investing enough money into the project. NVIDIA itself will also benefit from the continued investment thanks to the DeepMap integration in NVIDIA DRIVE.