Mitsubishi Electric’s EMIRAI3 xAuto self-driving concept car. Photo: Mitsubishi Electric.

Here Technologies and Mitsubishi announced their intention to link their technologies for autonomous vehicles into an integrated offering for automakers. According to their preliminary agreement, the companies aim to offer services to support cars with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) on the road today as well as the fully autonomous vehicles of the future.

The companies’ initial focus is on providing services that, for example, would support smart lane-level guidance for vehicles based on real-time information about traffic conditions and incidents. They will also evaluate how information from vehicle sensors gathered by Mitsubishi Electric can be used for High Definition (HD) map updates.

Accordingly, the companies intend to draw on their respective technologies for data processing, location analytics and the creation of new services, including Here’s mapping infrastructure for autonomous cars, HD Live Map; Here’s Open Location Platform; and Mitsubishi Electric’s High-Definition Locator.

Here and Mitsubishi Electric intend to enable services initially for automotive customers in North America and Europe, before making them available more broadly. The companies will also work together to define possible services that target other industries beyond the automotive market.

“Location technology is at the core of the digital transformation happening right now across every industry and this has been the starting point for some very productive discussions between Here Technologies and Mitsubishi Electric,” said Edzard Overbeek, Here Chief Executive Officer (CEO). “While our initial focus will be on self-driving cars, over time we see our collaboration broadening as we explore powerful new services and business models for the emerging autonomous world.”