OREANDA-NEWS. NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and TomTom (TOM2), the Dutch mapping and navigation group, today announced they are partnering to develop artificial intelligence to create a cloud-to-car mapping system for self-driving cars.

The work combines TomTom's extensive HD map coverage, which already spans more than 120,000 km of highways and freeways, with the NVIDIA DRIVE™ PX 2 computing platform. Together, the solution accelerates support for real-time in-vehicle localization and mapping for driving on the highway.

NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced the collaboration at the company's inaugural GTC Europe, a regional version of its annual GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley, now in its seventh year.

"Self-driving cars require a highly accurate HD mapping system that can generate an always up-to-date HD map in the cloud," said Rob Csongor, vice president and general manager of Automotive at NVIDIA. "DRIVE PX 2 for AutoCruise provides TomTom with a real-time, in-vehicle source for HD map updates."

The NVIDIA DriveWorks software development kit now integrates support for TomTom's HD mapping environment. The open solution is available for all automakers and tier 1 suppliers developing autonomous vehicles.

"This collaboration is an important step for TomTom," said Willem Strijbosch, head of Autonomous Driving at TomTom. "Combining our highly accurate HD maps with NVIDIA's self-driving car platform will enable us to propose new features to automakers faster, and therefore to make autonomous driving a commercial reality sooner."

GTC Europe attendees can see firsthand what goes on inside the brain of a self-driving car. Demonstrations of the DRIVE PX 2 AI car computer and NVIDIA DriveWorks software for object detection, free space calculation, map localization and path planning will be on display at the event, Sept. 28-29, at Amsterdam's Passenger Terminal building.

About TomTom
At TomTom (TOM2) our mission is to make technology so easy to use, that everyone can benefit from it. We created easy to use navigation devices, helping millions of people to get where they want to be. Today, we continue to simplify the complex, making technology more accessible for everyone. We have four customer facing business units: Consumer, Telematics, Automotive and Licensing.

We make easy to use navigation devices, sport watches and action cameras for consumers. We enable businesses with vehicles to more easily manage and improve fleet efficiency whilst increasing overall business performance with our Telematics solutions. We also offer a world leading real-time map platform that is powering innovative location based services and helping to make automated driving a reality for the automotive industry.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, we have over 4,600 employees and sell our products worldwide.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is a computer technology company that has pioneered GPU-accelerated computing. It targets the world's most demanding users -- gamers, designers and scientists -- with products, services and software that power amazing experiences in virtual reality, artificial intelligence, professional visualization and autonomous cars.