In an exclusive interview, Denise Doyle, Chief Product Officer at HERE Technologies, discusses the company’s recent award wins at the 2024 Just Auto Excellence Awards. Doyle highlights HERE’s innovative solutions in automated driving zones, geospatial data for safety, and EV infrastructure, underscoring the company’s pivotal role in the automotive industry’s transformation towards smarter, safer, and more sustainable mobility.
Just Auto: Congratulations on HERE Technologies’ recent wins at the 2024 Just Auto Excellence Awards. Can you share with us what these awards mean for the company and its stakeholders?
Denise Doyle: We are incredibly honored to be recognized as a triple category award winner. These awards affirm our position as an industry leader and highlight our commitment to innovation.
These awards serve as a validation on our focus to enable safe automated and electrified driving technology. HERE Automated Driving Zones and HERE EV Charge Point Predictions are designed to help make driving smarter, safer and more sustainable.
Just Auto: The Innovation Award for HERE Automated Driving Zones highlights the importance of defining safe operational parameters for autonomous vehicles. How does this software integrate with existing vehicle systems, and what challenges did you face in its development?
Denise Doyle: Specific operating conditions need to be met to allow the safe activation of automated driving technology. This requires Operational Design Domains (ODD), characterizing the conditions in which automated driving systems can operate safely within a specific area. HERE Automated Driving Zones is a cloud-based software product enabling automakers to define, customize and manage ODDs through both a software application and an application programming interface (API).
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By GlobalDataJust Auto: Safety is paramount in the automotive industry, especially concerning autonomous driving. How does HERE’s geospatial data enhance the reliability and precision of these systems beyond traditional safety measures?
Denise Doyle: The HERE HD Live Map provides safety-enhancing information to automated driving systems for localization, prediction and path planning, working in combination with on-board vehicle sensors. The HERE HD Live Map enables the vehicle to “see” and “plan” beyond the range of on-board sensors by delivering precise information about the road network’s features and local rules in advance.
The HERE HD Live Map consists of rich, highly accurate and fresh layers of lane-level location data, serving as a complimentary source of information to on-board sensors.
Just Auto: With the win in the Product Launches category, HERE has been recognized for its impact on EV infrastructure. Can you elaborate on how the HERE EV Charge Point Prediction service works and its benefits to both drivers and automakers?
Denise Doyle: The HERE EV Charge Point Prediction service helps drivers save time by providing a predicted probability of the availability of an EV charger.
The service leverages historical usage patterns, real-time data and sophisticated machine learning algorithms to predict the availability of EV charging stations along a driver’s route.
The HERE EV Charge Point Prediction service offers both drivers and automakers a significant advantage by providing accurate, real-time predictions about charging point availability.
Just Auto: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are at the core of your EV Charge Point Predictions service. How do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of the predictions provided by these technologies?
Denise Doyle: The HERE EV Charge Point Prediction service leverages diverse datasets, robust AI and ML algorithms and real-world validation. We deliver dependable predictions that help EV drivers plan their journeys with confidence.
Our AI models process vast amounts of data to recognize patterns and trends in charging behavior. These models are trained on historical traffic data and real-time feedback, creating intelligent predictions about when specific charging points are likely to be in use and when stations will be available.
Our AI models are continually trained and optimized with real-world data feedback loops, while undergoing rigorous testing and validation. We use both historical data and real-time feedback to test the predictions in diverse scenarios, simulating different traffic conditions, charging loads and geographic locations.
Just Auto: The integration of HERE’s HD Live Map into Mercedes-Benz’s DRIVE PILOT and BMW’s Personal Pilot systems is a significant achievement. How does this collaboration with major automakers influence HERE’s product development strategy?
Denise Doyle: Working together with Mercedes-Benz and BMW on the R&D and commercialization of automated driving systems provides us invaluable feedback and insights. The real-world integration of the HERE HD Live Map keeps us at the forefront of this exciting technology.
Just Auto: The EU’s Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) mandate has led to the adoption of the HERE ISA Map by numerous brands. How does HERE Technologies plan to support and comply with such regulatory changes in the future?
Denise Doyle: When it comes to automated driving and road safety use cases, like ISA or Safety-Related Traffic Information, it is recognized that location technology plays a central role. HERE is fully committed to supporting our customers compliance with today and tomorrow’s regulations.
Just Auto: As the Chief Product Officer of HERE Technologies, how do you prioritize innovation within the company, and what role does customer feedback play in your R&D process?
Denise Doyle: Innovation at HERE is continuous. We foster a culture that encourages collaboration and customer centricity. We take pride in operating with agility to ensure we maintain our top spot in the mapping industry.
Just Auto: The automotive industry is rapidly evolving with the advent of connected, autonomous, shared, and electric vehicles. What is HERE Technologies’ long-term vision for its role in this transformation?
Denise Doyle: There have been several key developments in mapping for the future, and most importantly for HERE are efforts to deliver a unified and semantically aligned “live map”. HERE is leading the industry with its AI-powered unified map architecture that is essential to building software defined vehicle (SDV) systems, and powering connected, electric and autonomous use cases.
Just Auto: Finally, what can we expect from HERE Technologies in the near future? Are there any upcoming projects or partnerships that you can share with our readers that will continue to drive progress in the automotive industry?
Denise Doyle: For a preview, our 40th anniversary is in 2025 and we’re at the start of a very exciting new phase in our company’s history. I’d like to leave it at that for now and just say: watch this space!
Company Profile
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.
Contact information
HERE Technologies
Dr. Sebastian Kurme
Corporate Communications
Email: sebastian.kurme@here.com
Web: www.here.com
