Intermap Technologies, a 3D digital mapping company, has opened a Detroit-area office to support and accelerate advanced automotive technologies. An office in Munich is also focused on the automotive industry.

Intermap’s new office is located adjacent to Oakland Community College’s Auburn Hills campus, and south of the Chrysler Technology Center. Intermap’s new Detroit-area satellite office will allow the company to better serve its domestic- and Asian-based automotive partners.

As part of its NEXTMap countrywide mapping program, Intermap is generating highly accurate 3D road vectors to help improve vehicle safety and enhance fuel efficiency. Next-generation safety systems using high-precision 3D road vectors can provide vehicles with precise knowledge of the road ahead to anticipate potentially dangerous situations, thereby helping to reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities.

Intermap’s 3D road vectors can enable systems that alert drivers of upcoming curves and hills and are a critical element in the development of predictive headlights that automatically follow the road by physically turning into curves and up and down according to the change in grade.

Precision road vectors can also provide advanced knowledge of the road ahead to automatically adjust engine and drive-line control units to increase fuel efficiency or extend the range of electric power sources in hybrid vehicles.