Location specialist Here has launched a new software package which will assist car makers in developing autonomous driving technology.

Here Electronic Horizon helps vehicles know and react to what lies on the road ahead using map data and dynamic road date from the cloud.

“For people to let go of the wheel, it’s vital that they come to trust their cars. This new piece of software helps build that trust by telling the car what lies ahead so it can drive better on its own.

“We believe automakers will also appreciate the benefits of this new software in vehicle development. For too long, they have grappled with the complexity of working with multiple suppliers. By combining this new software with Here content and services, automakers can now deploy a complete and future-proof location solution for the car and do so fast,” said Ralf Herrtwich, head of automotive at Here.

Here Electronic Horizon can create a simplified representation of the road ahead and feed that data to the vehicle’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), optimising the performance of its engine and safety systems.

A number of ADAS functions benefit from the software including predictive powertrain control, adaptive cruise control, adaptive lighting, night vision and object recognition.