Editing by Greg Gao
Autonomous driving is accelerating in China. One side effect is that it is also boosting up the high-precision mapping sector and the rollout of LiDAR - laser radar technology.
There have been some Chinese domestic companies engaged in the high-precision map business in China. Four major players have emerged, capturing most of the market share - Baidu, NavInfo (四维图新), AutoNavi (高德地图) and eMapgo Technologies(易图通). According to an IDC 2019 report, Baidu has the highest market share of 29.3%, NavInfo 21.7%, AutoNavi 17.9%, and eMapgo 14.7%.
Wei Dong, vice president of AutoNavi Maps, said high-precision maps would be a "multiplier" for intelligent driving. With the launch of Level 3 and Level 4 driving automation systems, LiDAR plays a more critical role, but it is not enough. High-precision maps and positioning technology are required to ensure the safety of self-driving, making vehicles able to know where it is and know its surrounding environment.
Among the leading high-precision map suppliers, China's Internet behemoth Baidu provides the mapping data service not just for its own autonomous driving business, also for other car companies. It has won orders from car manufacturers including Hyundai, Great Wall, BYD, Chery, and Hanton.
NavInfo and AutoNavi Maps also supply high-precision map services for L3 and L3+ level autonomous driving.
NavInfo received the order for BMW's L3+ level autonomous driving system in February 2019. Recently It announced that it had reached a pre-installation and mass production agreement with Inceptio Technology (赢彻科技), a startup of freight network using autonomous driving trucks, and will provide its mass-produced autonomous commercial vehicle with high-precision map services for L3 level autonomous driving.
As early as 2016, AutoNavi Maps announced that it would provide high-precision map data to industry partners for free during its development and testing phase of autonomous driving. The move allowed it to expand its market share. AutoNavi released its third-generation navigation system (equipped with high-precision maps), and the Xpeng P7 is the first model to be fitted.
High-precision mapping is challenging, requiring to depict all the details of the road - every curve, curbs, lane, and the surrounding environment, including vegetation while collecting and updating field data for each route.
As a result, the high-precision map suppliers need to invest a lot of money, workforce, and material in collecting, processing, and maintaining data. These have led to more AI and computing power enhancement. Baidu improved greatly its mapping and automation this way.
In addition, map information in China is often related to national security. Requirements for surveying and mapping qualifications are also very strict.
According to China's surveying and mapping policy, the producing of autonomous driving maps (high-precision maps) must be undertaken by companies with navigation electronic map surveying and mapping qualifications. As of October 2020, a total of 28 companies have obtained Class A surveying and mapping qualifications for navigation electronic maps. Among them are NavInfo, AutoNavi, Baidu, Tencent, Didi, eMapgo Technologies, Careland, Huawei, JD.com, SF Express, and Meituan.
Even with surveying and mapping qualifications, some information in the map is related to national security and cannot be disclosed, while high-precision maps rely on these data. This requires the introduction of corresponding standards at the national level to ensure the country's map information security, and at the same time meet the needs of map companies and car manufactures.
In April 2018, with the support of the China Society of Automotive Engineering(中国汽车工程学会) and the China Industry Innovation Alliance for the Intelligent and Connected Vehicles(中国智能网联汽车产业创新联盟 ), "The Working Group for Autonomous Driving Map and Positioning " was established. There are currently 86 enterprise members.
In March this year, eMapgo Technologies officially passed the official review of the "Autonomous Driving Map - Acquisition Elements Model & Exchange Format" standard it has developed and became China's first group standard in the field of high-precision maps.
While national-level specialized industrial development plans and standard documents have yet to be released in China for high-precision maps, the sector is getting faster on the development track.
