Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/HERE
HERE is right now one of the biggest names in the navigation space. The company's products have already made their way to millions of cars out there, but at the same time, they also landed in the mobile navigation world, competing against the likes of Google Maps and Waze.
HERE is investing aggressively in new-generation capabilities, and a recent patent provides us with a closer look at a system that could completely change the way navigation systems work.
The company has patented a way to allow navigation software to work without a GPS signal. Called "apparatus and methods for providing audio-based navigation," HERE's concept relies on a complex implementation that captures and processes nearby sounds to determine a vehicle's location.
The official patent filling, which you can check out in full after the jump, includes a very detailed look at the system, explaining that non-GPS navigation could be expanded to standard vehicles, self-driving cars, and drones.
While HERE's concept includes a very long and tech-savvy description, the technology comes down to a system comprising audio receptors and a processing unit. Once the GPS connection is lost, so the system can no longer determine the vehicle's location, the system analyzes the surrounding sounds, measuring certain attributes such as volume and pitch.
The system's purpose is to calculate how far a vehicle is at any given time from a sound source. For example, if you're driving along tram tracks, HERE's technology can capture the sound and determine your location based entirely on the processed data. As you drive on the road, changing your location, the system updates the data in real-time, updating the location on the map. As such, the route guidance continues without interruptions, even when a GPS connection is not available.
At the end of the day, HERE's technology replaces the GPS with very specific sounds that are only generated at certain locations. This way, it can determine where you are based on multiple data sources, eventually allowing for uninterrupted navigation. HERE resolves one of the biggest drawbacks of navigation solutions, especially as a spotty GPS connection continues to be a big challenge in some regions, including rural regions and tunnels.
Needless to say, such a system would fit an autonomous vehicle like a glove, especially because seamless navigation is a must-have in this case, and finding the directions to a user-defined address is critical. The same is true for drones and other types of vehicles relying on GPS for navigation to a certain location.
On the other hand, the technology is still in the patent stage for the time being, so you'd better not hold your breath for it to make its way to mass production. You can read the whole patent in the doc below.
The company has patented a way to allow navigation software to work without a GPS signal. Called "apparatus and methods for providing audio-based navigation," HERE's concept relies on a complex implementation that captures and processes nearby sounds to determine a vehicle's location.
The official patent filling, which you can check out in full after the jump, includes a very detailed look at the system, explaining that non-GPS navigation could be expanded to standard vehicles, self-driving cars, and drones.
While HERE's concept includes a very long and tech-savvy description, the technology comes down to a system comprising audio receptors and a processing unit. Once the GPS connection is lost, so the system can no longer determine the vehicle's location, the system analyzes the surrounding sounds, measuring certain attributes such as volume and pitch.
The system's purpose is to calculate how far a vehicle is at any given time from a sound source. For example, if you're driving along tram tracks, HERE's technology can capture the sound and determine your location based entirely on the processed data. As you drive on the road, changing your location, the system updates the data in real-time, updating the location on the map. As such, the route guidance continues without interruptions, even when a GPS connection is not available.
At the end of the day, HERE's technology replaces the GPS with very specific sounds that are only generated at certain locations. This way, it can determine where you are based on multiple data sources, eventually allowing for uninterrupted navigation. HERE resolves one of the biggest drawbacks of navigation solutions, especially as a spotty GPS connection continues to be a big challenge in some regions, including rural regions and tunnels.
Needless to say, such a system would fit an autonomous vehicle like a glove, especially because seamless navigation is a must-have in this case, and finding the directions to a user-defined address is critical. The same is true for drones and other types of vehicles relying on GPS for navigation to a certain location.
On the other hand, the technology is still in the patent stage for the time being, so you'd better not hold your breath for it to make its way to mass production. You can read the whole patent in the doc below.
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