Lotus Robotics and Here Technologies are collaborating on a highway navigation pilot for developing automated driving.

The highway navigation pilot from Chinese firm Lotus Robotics delivers L2+ automated driving capabilities, leveraging precision data from Dutch company Here’s HD live map.

Lotus Robotics, the intelligent driving arm of Lotus Technology, and Here Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the highway navigation pilot for automated driving functions.

The collaboration is focused on delivering L2+ ADAS integrating a sensor perception stack and a high-precision map for driving and safety functions including hands-off driving in certain situations. It is set for approval in Europe this year, and is set to be used in upcoming Lotus vehicles and jointly offered to automakers across Europe.

The Lotus highway navigation pilot is full stack hardware and software for automated driving functions, including automated lane changes, highway transitions and passing manoeuvres.

For automated driving systems, the Here HD Live Map (www.here.com/platform/adas-had) delivers safety-enhancing data for functions such as localisation, prediction and path planning, working seamlessly with various vehicle sensors. The HD map expands a vehicle’s ability to see and plan in scenarios where sensors alone may be limited. The live map improves the overall situational awareness by providing precise, forward-looking information about road network features and local regulations, anticipating potential issues ahead and giving drivers an improved sense of confidence.

In 2022, Lotus and Here combined forces to bring a customised navigation system based on Here Navigation to the Lotus Eletre fully electric hyper-SUV and Lotus Emeya hyper-GT. Building on this collaboration, Lotus and Here are now expanding their partnership to develop the highway navigation pilot, advancing automated driving capabilities for Lotus vehicles and other OEMs.

“We see a huge potential need for L2+ ADAS and NoA [navigation on autopilot] in highway scenarios for the global market in the near future,” said Bo Li, CEO at Lotus Robotics. “Lotus Robotics is dedicated to building an open ecosystem together with our strategic partners including HD map services provided by Here Technologies as a key element of our technical stack of automated driving. We are expecting a rapid rollout of this product portfolio combining Lotus Robotics software and Here map data across the globe.”

Jason Jameson, chief customer officer at Here Technologies, added: “We are excited to collaborate and co-innovate with Lotus Robotics in the field of automated driving. Fresh and accurate location data and technology are a critical cornerstone for any safe and efficient automated driving system. Together with Lotus Robotics, we look forward to paving the way for the future of autonomous vehicles.”

Here’s unified mapping architecture, powered by the latest in AI and machine learning (ML), delivers accuracy and detail. By leveraging AI and ML techniques, Here (www.here.com) automates, updates and enhances its IoT sensor data-derived mapmaking that processes hundreds of millions of kilometres of vehicle probe and sensor data every hour. Here location data and software services are used in more than 222 million vehicles globally, and more than 54 million vehicles rely on maps from Here for ADAS and automated driving functions.

Lotus Robotics (lotusrobotics.com) was founded in 2021 and is working with multiple automakers to accelerate the transition to autonomous driving technology.