LG partners Here on self-driving car telematics

LG is teaming up with digital mapping company Here to develop a telematics product aimed at self-driving vehicle applications.

The two companies plan to focus on telematics, managing the massive amounts of data that self-driving cars are anticipated to both generate and consume. LG's expertise in managing wireless data transmission will be combined with Here's mapping expertise.

Here is jointly owned by Audi, BMW, and Daimler, and has made automotive applications its main priority since being purchased by the car-makers. "To operate safely and efficiently, autonomous vehicles will need many kinds of robust data sources and powerful communication technologies," Moon Lee, VP of Here Technologies, said in a statement. "We believe our Open Location Platform-powered services can play a critical role in next-generation telematics technology for autonomous vehicles, and we're excited to be working with LG to make this a reality."

LG wants to allow future autonomous cars to upload data from their onboard sensors, including cameras, radar, and lidar, to the cloud so that other vehicles can access it using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This could alert cars of potential hazards or traffic in real time, and has the potential to improve how they drive.

LG’s offering will incorporate communications tech including GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and mobile networks including the forthcoming 5G standard to help communicate data transmitted by other autonomous vehicles on the road and information systems to in-car navigation and technology centers.