The worldwide standard
for map data in
automotive eco-systems
NDS is for in-vehicle navigation and for ADAS and e-horizon safety systems. It is for mobile companion apps, connected car cloud solutions, and for autonomous driving.
It evolves with the market needs as NDS is for the automotive industry, by the automotive industry.
NDS offers a well-defined spec for how to store map data and it allows flexibility for customized user experiences.
The NDS specification covers the data model, storage format, interfaces, and protocols.
NDS maps work worldwide and are globally adopted.
NDS members and map coverage include North America, EMEA, APAC, including China, South Korea, and Japan.
Tomorrow’s vehicles will combine map and sensor data for advanced driving automation.
A standardized map will provide location references enabling the fusion of map and sensor data. We, the NDS Association members, believe that a common map standard is essential for creating a network effect. Because the automotive industry needs to work together on sharing data:
The automotive industry needs to work together on sharing data
And we believe, maps should serve as a common location reference, the common canvas on which vehicle and infrastructure sensor data combine to paint a realistic picture of the world. The map helps the car understand the world around it. And the map also includes the data that vehicle and infrastructure sensors cannot provide.
The map required for automated driving is a high definition map that enables vehicles to precisely locate themselves and data to be geo-referenced to precise locations. NDS offers the data specification for this kind of high definition map. Organized into specific building blocks, the data is layered with interconnected references. Distinct building blocks are defined for lane level data, localization data, obstacles data, and the routing building block with the link network and road topology. The combination of all these building blocks is designed specifically to support automated driving. In addition to a full database, the data relevant for automated driving can be rendered in tile form via an API.
The NDS Association members are car manufacturers, application/compiler developers, as well as map and service providers.
The NDS standardization work is organized by the NDS Association, a legal entity according to German Law, who owns shared IP and safeguards members from litigation between members on foreground IP owned by the individual members.
