DeepMap can pave the way for its domestic business to a certain extent by absorbing Chinese capital.
"Without high-precision 3D maps, automatic driving is free of talk"-has become a consensus in the field of autonomous driving. As the commercialization of unmanned driving is approaching, the indispensable high-precision map has become an important subdivision track for various companies to seize.
According to industry sources, Silicon Valley's high-precision map startup DeepMap is advancing its B round of financing. Two of the major strategic investors have surfaced-Nvidia and Bosch's venture capital company (RBVC), and other investors will include Alibaba. Baba, Didi Chuxing, BAIC Group, etc.
DeepMap founder and CEO James Wu said that the strategic investors announced now are Nvidia and Bosch, and there is no official news from other investors.
DeepMap was founded by Chinese Wu Xiaqing, Luo Wei and Mark Wheeler in early 2016. It is located in Palo Alto, California and focuses on the research and development of high-precision map solutions. In addition, DeepMap has a branch in Beijing, China, and is currently expanding its technology research and development team.
In May 2017, DeepMap completed a US$25 million Series A financing, led by the well-known Silicon Valley venture capital Accel Partners. Accel is also Facebook's second largest shareholder after Zuckerberg.
With reference to foreign media the information and overseas venture capital database crunchbase, DeepMap's three rounds of financing totaled US$92 million. The latest B round of financing will reach US$60 million, and its current valuation is US$430 million.
According to industry analysts, this round of financing led by Chinese capital will create a convenient channel for DeepMap to explore the domestic market.
Who is DeepMap?In the field of autonomous driving, it is not common for startups that can simultaneously obtain top investment resources in the industry and the Internet. Investors are so optimistic about DeepMap mainly because of two points.
One is that the high-precision map track has become a core challenge for the commercialization of autonomous driving, and the second is the heavyweight leadership team behind the company.
DeepMap CEO Wu Xiaqing (right) and CTO Mark Weiler (left)
The founding team of DeepMap includes CEO Wu Xiaqing, CTO Officer Mark Wheeler (Mark Wheeler), COO Luo Wei and others. Their early experience in research and development of autonomous driving technology at Google, Apple, Baidu and other giants has provided valuable experience for entrepreneurship. .
Before starting his business, Wu Xiaqing, the founder and CEO of DeepMap, worked as the chief architect of Baidu American Research Institute to develop high-precision maps for Baidu's autonomous driving. Earlier, Wu Xiaqing worked in Google Earth, Apple Maps and other departments, and accumulated 14 years of experience. Map development experience. In addition, the team also includes several technical veterans in the lidar field.
According to DeepMap, in terms of technical implementation, the current drawing technology accuracy can reach the centimeter level, and the system supports precise positioning of autonomous vehicles; at the same time, vehicles on the DeepMap platform can share real-time information updates with each other. The company's main business includes three areas, namely high-precision maps, accurate and real-time location positioning, and service infrastructure construction.
DeepMap uses a combination of digital cameras and lidar to collect data to create detailed 3D maps that can identify street signs, mailboxes, and even small details such as roadside heights.
Different from the general high-precision map construction model, DeepMap allows different companies to create high-precision maps with different features and data, provides software that can be embedded in vehicles, and solves problems such as positioning, data update, route planning, and data collection.
The team believes that the differentiated advantage of DeepMap lies in the realization of high-precision, low-cost maps and positioning solutions through a map operation architecture that efficiently processes large-scale data. "To make high-precision maps on a large scale and at low cost, only a few people know what to do, and even fewer people can do it well. We are such a team." DeepMap COO Luo Wei said.
At the technical level, the construction of high-precision map data is no longer the biggest threshold. The core challenge is how to continuously update these massive maps to reflect changes such as new obstacles such as road projects or fallen trees.
In order to avoid the expensive collection of fleet update data from its own operations, DeepMap is looking for a new data model (end customers can retain ownership of the basic data) to collect data from autonomous vehicles that have been deployed on the road to keep the map updated.
In this model, DeepMap no longer emphasizes the ownership of software data. Map production is used as a service that can be embedded in any car manufacturer’s platform, and the dynamic service of “continuous empowerment†corresponds to the update frequency of high-precision map information. This binds the interests of car manufacturers and service developers.
High-precision map has a strong ability to attract gold
On cutting-edge tracks such as autonomous driving, the size of the market and the company's profitability are key factors affecting its healthy development.
According to industry forecasts, the golden period of high-precision map development is at the right time. By 2020, the overall size of the high-precision map market will reach US$2.1 billion. In 2025, the market size is expected to reach US$9.4 billion (equivalent to RMB 60.7 billion).
Compared with the difficult situation of advanced autonomous driving technology, the market status of high-precision map data services is more optimistic. Even before large-scale applications in autonomous vehicles, high-definition maps have their place-to help develop driver-assisted driving solutions.
Because high-precision maps are not only used for navigation, but also need to provide key safety features. Compared with the function of sensors in close proximity, high-precision maps focus more on the judgment and planning of long-distance paths. When the vehicle speed is too fast, the sensor's response speed and sensing distance are not enough to support the car's driving response, or when the sensor camera is blocked by raindrops on a rainy day, the high-precision map can play a role in planning a safe route in advance.
Traditional automakers believe that high-definition maps will become an important source of revenue in the next few years.
"This is just like the evolution of TV development. From traditional TV to HD and 4K, once developed, we will not go back. We will see that most of the maps sold in the future are of high-definition resolution." Ralf Herrtwich, head of graphics for Here, talks. (Here Map was originally an asset of Nokia and was held indirectly by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW through a shareholding platform in 2015.)
The high-precision map's ability to attract gold has been reflected in a timely manner in DeepMap, which was founded two years ago.
"DeepMap's estimated revenue in 2018 is about 3 million U.S. dollars, which is more than four times higher than last year's 650,000 U.S. dollars revenue. The expected revenue growth is mainly due to automakers' payments due at the end of this year." A person familiar with the matter told the informaTIon .
In North America, Asia, Europe and other places, DeeMap has established several customers and partners. The publicly cooperated car companies include SAIC Silicon Valley Innovation Center, Ford Motor and Honda's accelerator Honda Xcelerator.
In places such as Concord and San Jose in California, SAIC's self-driving test vehicles have been equipped with DeepMap software. Last year, the start-up company Voyage also used DeepMap's service on its self-driving vehicles in San Jose.
Some investors revealed that DeepMap is still advancing cooperation with Daimler. As a new Chinese investor in the B round, Ali, intends to integrate DeepMap's data collection software into its rookie logistics fleet. "It is expected that Ali will launch 100 self-driving logistics vehicles this year, and it is expected to expand to thousands."
Prior to this, Alibaba invested in two rounds of new Internet car company Xiaopeng Motors, and in 2014, it acquired AutoNavi Maps, a leading domestic digital map service company.
No one wants Google to win againIn the era of traditional digital maps, Google has become the undisputed winner through map surveying and mapping street view vehicles and professional drawing software running around the world. But in a new round of battle for high-precision maps, no one, including Baidu, wants Google to win again.
"In the future, China's high-precision map business may be larger than Baidu's current search business!" At the CES scene in early 2018, Lu Qi, the former chief operating officer of Baidu, said to the American media.
In addition to the giant layout, on the stage of "upstarts", DeepMap and CivilMaps, lvl 5, and Carmera are collectively referred to as the four little dragons of the global high-precision map. DeepMap relies on deep learning technology to identify and extract information to obtain high-efficiency advantages. CivilMaps has the first opportunity in information screening and compression technology, and lvl 5, which is proficient in data collection and crowdsourcing, is also favored by capital.
Luo Wei, COO of DeepMap, mentioned that the "old club" Google once found her hoping to invest. Although the relationship is very close, but in order to maintain the company's independence, DeepMap still declined Google.
However, DeepMap does not lack olive branches. Both Bosch and Nvidia have expressed expectations for follow-up cooperation. "DeepMap fills a gap in the high-precision map market. The company uses embedded software mapping in vehicles, which is suitable for Bosch and the entire automotive industry for highly automated and autonomous driving." said Dr. Ingo Ramesohl, general manager of Robert Bosch Ventures.
Jeff Herbst, vice president of business development at Nvidia, said, “High-precision maps are the key to the deployment of autonomous vehicles. We are impressed by DeepMap's ability to build and update maps, and we are very happy to be able to provide support for their next development.â€
Prior to this, Nvidia has disclosed two autopilot investment targets, including Jingchi Technology and Tucson Technology, two autopilot technology solution providers; in the field of high-precision map data services, DeeMap is the first.
At present, China has become the world's largest new car market. With this inherent advantage, China is also regarded as the strongest player in the global competition for autonomous driving technology. But for American companies, entering the Chinese market is a arduous and complicated task. China has strict licensing reviews at the level of collecting map data or providing map services.
Foreign media believe that obtaining these licenses usually means the need to cooperate with Chinese companies. DeepMap can pave the way for its domestic business to a certain extent by absorbing Chinese capital. For example, Baidu, as a pioneer in the commercialization of domestic high-precision map services, Baidu has reached cooperation with many overseas automakers such as BMW.
At the same time, the integration signals of Chinese map data service providers and upstream and downstream chain companies are becoming stronger.
In August last year, AutoNavi Maps teamed up with the precise location service provider Qianxun Location to launch a comprehensive solution of "high-precision map + high-precision positioning", and laid the foundation for "crowdsourcing" of data collection.
Intel, which is cooperating with SAIC and NavInfo, is planning how to quickly integrate resources to effectively accelerate data collection and high-precision mapping, so as to prepare for serving unmanned driving applications.
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