The key to understanding the importance of digital maps in the context of autonomous cars is learning how autonomous vehicles perceive the road and how they need to react to it in real-life. It all starts with the vehicle figuring out its location: where exactly it is in the world. And it does this by taking a digital map and its sensor data and putting these two elements together. The result is the frame of the map, the foundation. Think of it as a geometric understanding of the world.

With this talk I want to share the importance of OpenStreetMap in the autonomous vehicles challenges and explain how digital maps and other mapping systems working together will define the future of human transportation in the world.