HERE Technologies announced that SIMULYTIC, a Siemens AG venture, is utilizing the HERE HD Live Map for its simulation software to calculate its Automated Vehicle Deployment Risk Score (AVDRS) for insurance companies.

The advancement and increasing commercial deployment of self-driving technology is creating a unique challenge for insurance companies as it involves a shift from human to software drivers. Contrary to the traditional case with human drivers, insurers lack a comprehensive history of claims to appropriately create risk profiles and calculate insurance premiums for autonomous vehicle (AV) deployments. Without such an evidence-based method to evaluate driving risks consistently, underwriting AVs becomes a challenge.

To address this newly emerging need, SIMULYTIC generates synthetic driving histories of proposed AV deployments through large-scale simulations of the proposed operation and location. Its models take into account traffic, weather and other hyperlocal data. To do so, SIMULYTIC relies on the HERE HD Live Map with its highly accurate model of the road network, including lane configurations and markings.

“The distinguishing aspect of our approach to insurance risk scoring is that our simulations are tailor-made for a particular AV deployment”, noted Andy Gill, Chief Operating Officer at SIMULYTIC. “Fast turnaround and coverage anywhere AVs might deploy, were key requirements for us and the HERE HD Live Map delivers on both.”

“With its simulation-based risk profiles, SIMULYTIC is a catalyst for the deployment of autonomous vehicles at scale”, said Leen Balcaen, Vice President Product Management SD and HD Maps at HERE Technologies. “The integration of the HERE HD Live Map into SIMULYTIC’s solution showcases its versatility for any use case that requires precise mapping.”

The HERE HD Live Map is a highly detailed, cloud-based map for autonomous systems. It contains rich information about the road network with lane-level detail, including road furniture, such as signs and poles. It is currently being utilized by the world’s first commercially available vehicles with Level 3 automated driving systems.

Source: HERE Technologies