HERE HD Live Map powers BMW Personal Pilot Level 3 highly automated driving function

• BMW’s “Personal Pilot” Level 3 highly automated driving function available in Germany starting from March 2024. 
• The HERE HD Live Map plays a central role for the function, providing critical information about the car’s environment and its route ahead.

HERE Technologies, the leading location data and technology platform, today announced the usage of the HERE HD Live Map onboard BMW’s new 7 Series with “BMW Personal Pilot” Level 3 highly automated driving function. This marks a key milestone in the companies’ longstanding collaboration on high-definition mapping for advanced driving assistance and automated vehicle systems.

BMW’s Personal Pilot allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road under certain conditions. Drivers can use the extra time to work, chat or even use entertainment features such as video streaming while the function is activated. Beginning with the new 7 Series, BMW will introduce the function starting in Germany in March 2024.

The HERE HD Live Map provides safety-enhancing data to the vehicle system for tasks such as localization, prediction and path planning, working in combination with various vehicle sensors. The HERE HD Live Map extends the functions capabilities to "see" and "plan" in scenarios where vehicle sensors alone might fall short, enhancing overall situational awareness, by delivering precise information about the road network’s features and local rules in advance.

BMW also utilizes HERE HD map data to define the operational design domain (ODD), which lets the vehicle know when and where the Personal Pilot function can be activated.

“The HERE HD Live Map plays a central role for our BMW Personal Pilot Level 3 functionality. It acts as the primary input source to create the car’s driving path, providing critical information about attributes such as geometry, lane positioning and predicting road traffic signs in time”, said Nicolai Martin, SVP Driving Experience at BMW Group. “With the BMW Personal Pilot, the car drives itself ‘on-map’, with the car’s sensors acting as an extra layer sharing the safety load with the map.”

“We are proud to support our partner BMW in bringing the next level of vehicle automation to customers,” said Jason Jameson, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at HERE Technologies. “The integration of the HERE HD Live Map with BMW's Personal Pilot function marks a significant achievement, underlining the pivotal role high-definition maps play in the future of automated driving.”

The HERE HD Live Map contains three distinct layers:

• Road Model: provides detailed road characteristics, such as topology, direction of travel, elevation, slope, road rules, boundaries, tunnels and intersections.
• HD Lane Model: contains precise lane-level information, such as locations of lane lines, widths, markings, boundaries, access characteristics, stop areas, raised surfaces, and speed limits.
• Localization layer: classifies roadside furniture, such as signs, barriers, poles, signals, road surface marking, places of interest and overhead structures.

The HERE HD Live Map is based on UniMap, HERE’s next-generation map-making capability, which features the unique ability to rapidly fuse large quantities of data from diverse sources, including vehicle cameras, industrial lidar and satellites, into a fully aligned and unified global map.

The BMW Personal Pilot is one of the first commercially available Level 3 highly automated driving functions. Starting in March 2024 it will first be available in the new BMW 7 Series to be used on motorways in Germany. When activated, the system will allow a vehicle to drive itself in conditionally automated mode at a maximum speed of 60km/h in heavy traffic.

HERE is the global market leader for automotive-grade maps designed to power navigation, advanced driving assistance (ADAS), EVs and automated driving systems. Today, approximately 180 million cars have been sold with HERE maps on board. This includes more than 40 million cars across Europe and North America that use HERE location data and services for ADAS and automated driving functions.

Media Contacts
Jordan Stark
+1 312 316 4537
jordan.stark@here.com

Dr. Sebastian Kurme
+49 173 515 3549
sebastian.kurme@here.com

About HERE Technologies
HERE has been a pioneer in mapping and location technology for almost 40 years. Today, HERE’s location platform is recognized as the most complete in the industry, powering location-based products, services and custom maps for organizations and enterprises across the globe. From autonomous driving and seamless logistics to new mobility experiences, HERE allows its partners and customers to innovate while retaining control over their data and safeguarding privacy. Find out how HERE is moving the world forward at here.com.