Mapping Canada - Centimeter by Centimeter

A Montreal-based company leverages artificial intelligence to take on the task of developing high-definition maps of Canada.

Fully-automated vehicles will only be as smart as the datasets they use to determine their driving pathways. Jakarto Cartographie 3D, a young company based in Montreal, Canada, is working on artificial-intelligence (AI)-powered, high-definition (HD) maps that it claims offer 2-3 cm (.787- to 1.2-inch) absolute precision and relative precision measured in millimeters. In other words, better maps that will allow for better automated vehicles (AVs).

Started two years ago, Jakarto currently has three Nissan NV200 mapping vans equipped with a data collection unit that contains five cameras, a GPS unit and two ZF-supplied lidar sensors that each generate one million points per second. Jakarto calls the resulting maps RoadSkeleton, claiming they'll be beneficial for smart cities and AVs.