The pace of today has turned driving into a tedious task, making cars less attractive in the future as a means of mobility. Navigation has always been about the shortest route and fastest ETA, but Porsche Navigation is attempting to change this. With Porsche, navigation is about the driving experience – an enjoyable experience. Porsche believe the collaboration with Mapbox, leads to the future of navigation. Promising that navigation will no longer be about going from point A to B, but having an experience which encompasses all that is Porsche.
1. What Is Mapbox
Established in 2011, think of the Mapbox platform as a tool kit, one which allows developers, to create a unique Porsche Navigation experience. Tools such as Maps SDK for Unity is used to produce a 3D preview of your route and Vision SDK for turn-by-turn AR Navigation. The combination of Maps SDK and Navigation SDK is used to create a social aspect to navigation, allowing us to share our route with other Porsche drivers, while Mapbox Studio provides that Porsche aesthetic. With their infrastructure and location data, collaborating with Mapbox can lead to some enticing results for Porsche.
2. How Will Porsche Use It
Although nothing has been formally announced, in a video released, it can be seen that this navigation technology, could be part of the built-in Porsche navigation system. As a fitted-in console, it may be seen in new Porsche models in the future. As mentioned above, it could be used in some sort of augmented reality navigation. Where it could be used to detect objects on the road, preview warning and regulation signs, and distance tracking to lead your Porsche. It would be your car’s second set of eyes. Mapbox’s integration will also leave a social stamp on one’s driving experience. Possibly with the option to share our favorite routes, live tracking of traffic congestion or leaving helpful notes for other drivers. Regardless of how Porsche plans to use Mapbox and to what degree it is incorporated, the future, is exciting.
But the question remains, how does Mapbox compare to the current navigation system? Is the attempt to develop something so audacious, necessary or does the current navigation system hold up well enough. Some of the current navigation features are already well developed. For example, with the new Cayenne model, if you have the navigation plus package, you’ll have many features, that the Mapbox collaboration expects to produce.
Some of these features are:
- Real-time Traffic information
- Online Map updates
- Smart Routing – which updates your most frequently traveled routes, based on traffic congestion.
If implemented though, Mapbox could potentially provide more customization. Also, some of the before mentioned features, are found nowhere else currently.
These features would be unique to Mapbox:
- Turn-by-turn AR navigation
- Object classification and detection
- 3D rendered preview of route
- Social aspects linked directly to your vehicle
- Amazing customization, giving a look and feel that will be unique to Porsche Navigation
These features do sound great, but the current shortcoming of using a Mapbox based navigation system is that that Mapbox doesn’t have satellite coverage. This causes a decrease in accuracy, with regards to calculations of ETA, and maps may not be available in some locations. This is the not a train smash, as the lack of accuracy isn’t that detectable, it won’t be hours off in ETA. Also, all major cities and majority of the countries will have maps.
The Porsche/Mapbox team-up at the moment is merely an opportunity for developers at Porsche to use and play around with some of the most customizable and unique navigation tools. This collaboration may lead to the self-proclaimed future of navigation, or just a few cool novelty features in future Porsches. But regardless, it shows Porsche’s forward thinking with respect to navigation.