Combining Precise Road Surface Conditions with High Definition Map and Vehicle Sensor Data Provides a Unique Opportunity for Developers to Build Highly Automated Driving Solutions that are Safer and More Aware

HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location platform services, today announced that the Global Weather Corporation (GWC) has joined the HERE Marketplace to provide its RoadWX  road weather data service, a segment-level forecast of road surface conditions (dry, near dry, wet, snow/ice and slush) to HERE Marketplace customers. GWC will also provide specialized information such as road condition confidence level, pavement surface temperature, on-road water and snow depth, potential visibility limits, and many other important weather variables.

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The GWC road weather service, RoadWX® will be map-matched to the HERE road segment topology. The combination of the two companies’ capabilties and underlying technologies represents a significant breakthrough for addressing the many vehicle safety and efficiency use cases, ranging from advanced infotainment to the rigorous safety standards of highly automated driving and navigation.

For example, the integration of GWC’s road-level weather data with high-definition maps and real-time vehicle sensor data from HERE can broaden the availability of highly automated driving in regions that are most impacted by adverse road weather conditions.

Whereas atmospheric weather conditions can confuse some vehicle sensors, knowing in advance the road surface information provides an external reference beyond the readings from vehicle sensors. For example, a vehicle may “kick out” of a state of highly automated driving if its sensors, such as windshield wipers, indicate a light rain. However, knowing the road surface condition on the road segment ahead may indicate that the vehicle can still maintain traction in a state of highly automated driving.

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GWC chose to make its RoadWX data service available on the HERE Marketplace because of HERE’s long-standing and trusted reputation of delivering automotive-grade navigable road maps and HERE’s deep industry connections worldwide. By joining the HERE Marketplace, GWC will offer its data and services to qualified marketplace customers who want to create location-centric solutions in industries such as automotive, insurance, and transportation & logistics.

“Today there is a clear need for a neutral party that can safely and securely offer standardized access to vehicle sensor data, and HERE is positioned to do exactly this,” said Kirk Mitchell, Senior Vice President and General Manager for HERE Technologies, Americas. “We look forward to working with GWC to take advantage of the HERE Marketplace to offer its high-value, differentiated products to automotive and other industries as the movement to sophisticated in-vehicle experiences and highly automated driving continues to evolve.”

GWC now offers its real-time and historic road-level weather data on the HERE Marketplace so that data consumers can readily utilize it in their applications. HERE Marketplace customers can access GWC data products in raw form or as HERE map tiles, where each tile provides road surface conditions and related information by road segment. GWC’s forecasts are updated every 15 minutes, providing current conditions and forecasts hourly out to 48 hours and every 15 minutes for the first several hours.

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RoadWX® is based on machine learning technology that models the environmental and physical characteristics of the road surface and sub-surface for all classes of roads. Road conditions forecasted are; dry, near dry, wet, snow/ice and slush at the road segment-level. Additional variables include road condition confidence level, road surface temperature, water/snow depth on-road, air temperature, precipitation type and amount, wind speed and direction, and more.

“The combined technologies of the HERE platform and the GWC RoadWX®, offers customers a solution that scales to meet their global requirements for accurate road weather forecast data,” said Mark Flolid, CEO for Global Weather Corporation. “HERE Marketplace customers will have access to our specialized RoadWX road weather service and the future advances we have planned to meet the weather needs of the connected world.”

To learn more, hear Mark Flolid, GWC CEO and Co-founder, speak during CES at the HERE booth on Thursday, January 9, at 10 am PT. To obtain an evaluation sample of GWC data, contact HERE.

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