The autonomous driving industry is developing by leaps and bounds, facilitating the evolution of the HD map market. The higher level autonomous driving is, the more accurate HD map is required. It is predicted that global HD map market will be worth over $9 billion in 2025.


The HD map industry is now in its infancy, with key players including map providers, start-ups, autonomous driving chip vendors, Tier 1 suppliers, automakers and mobility service firms. They are seeking for cooperation to jointly boost the industry while they are competing fiercely. Those who are the first to finish production of HD map will rule the roost in the market. Players of all levels thus shun their counterparts in cooperation.
Map providers: they are generally grown from conventional navigation map providers, dedicating themselves to collecting data to produce base map for HD map, updating data and rolling out total HD map solutions. Major players include Here, TomTom, Waymo, AutoNavi (Amap), NavInfo and Baidu Maps.
These map giants are now busy with data acquisition. Among them, Here, TomTom, AutoNavi and Baidu Maps have collected an average of more than 300,000km apiece.
In China, map providers must acquire “Class A Digital Navigation Map Production Qualification”, which means foreign firms are all ineligible for producing map in China, so they often team up with local qualified peers.
Start-ups: they are currently in the majority in HD map market, providing map providers with crowdsourcing data, map updates, and software and hardware technologies for high precision positioning. But they can be direct providers of HD map solutions as long as they get the qualification. For instance, Momenta became the first start-up qualified for map production in late 2018, before which qualifiers were largely entities and conventional map providers. So it is expected that issuing licenses to start-ups will be a tendency in China.
Automakers and mobility service firms: as the end users of HD map, they will not only offer HD map updates but help producers with crowdsourcing.

In the future, as finished HD map products are launched, data update (often done by start-ups, chip vendors, automakers and mobility service firms) will be a focus, and crowdsourcing update grows a trend.
Automotive Cloud Service Platform Research Report, 2026
Research on automotive cloud service platform: with architecture upgrade and computing power improvement, cloud services enter a new stage
In 2026, the Internet of Vehicles industry generates petaby...
Integrated Battery and Innovative Battery Technology Research Report, 2026
Power Battery Research: Sales of High-Capacity Vehicles Keep Rising, and Solid-State Batteries Begin to Be Installed in Vehicles
I. Sales of High-Capacity Vehicles Sustain Growth, and Those with A C...
Chinese Independent OEMs’ ADAS and Autonomous Driving Report, 2026
Research on OEMs' Intelligent Driving: Era of Physical AI, Standard Configuration of D2D, and Initial Exploration of L3 Commercial Pilot Projects
From 2023 to 2025, the intelligent driving installati...
Intelligent Vehicle New Technology Application Analysis Report, 2025-2026
New Technology Research: Innovative Products such as Bionic Cameras, Vision-LiDAR Fusion Sensors, Auditory Sensors Further Enhance Vehicle Perception Capabilities
ForewordResearchInChina released th...
Automotive Optical Fiber Communication (Optical Fiber Ethernet, PON) and Supply Chain Research Report, 2026
Research on Automotive Optical Fiber Communication: Introduction of Optical Fiber in Vehicles Accelerates, with Priority Deployment in High-Speed Communication Link (10+Gbps) Scenarios
Automotive opt...
Automotive Intelligent Cockpit SoC Research Report, 2026
Automotive Cockpit SoC Research: Passenger Cars in the Price Range of RMB100,000–200,000 Account for Nearly 50% of Total Sales, and New-Generation Cockpit SoC Products Largely Enter Mass Production
P...
LiDAR (Automotive, Pan-Robotics, etc.) Application Research Report, 2025-2026
LiDAR research: hardware competition shifts to combined sensing capabilities from "point cloud" to "images” and from automotive to robots The "LiDAR (Automotive, Pan-Robotics, ...
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2026
Based on 2025 market data and the latest business layouts of OEMs and suppliers from 2025 to 2026, this report analyzes the development status quo and future trends of China’s passenger car T-Box mark...
Global and China Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Research Report, 2026
Research on REEVs and PHEVs: Foreign OEMs are considering extended-range technology as an important strategic option and will launch a series of new vehicles
Global PHEVs & REEVs tend to be domin...
Automotive Voice Industry Report, 2026
Automotive Voice Research: Explosive Growth in Features Like "See and Speak", 35-Fold Increase in External Voice Interaction in Two Years
ResearchInChina has released the Automotive Voice Industry R...
China Passenger Car Digital Chassis Research Report, 2026
Research on Digital Chassis: Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Version 2.0 1. Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Digital Chassis 2.0
By the degree of wired control of each c...
Vehicle Functional Safety and Safety Of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF) Research Report, 2026
Multiple Mandatory Standards for Intelligent Vehicles in China Upgrade Functional Safety Requirements from Recommended to Mandatory Access Criteria In 2026, China has intensively issued and promo...
Automotive 12V/48V Low-Voltage Lithium-ion Battery/Sodium-ion Battery Industry Research Report, 2026
Research on 12V/48V automotive low-voltage lithium-ion (sodium-ion) batteries: promoted by regulations and standardization, it is imperative to "replace lithium-ion (sodium-ion) batteries with lead-ac...
Next-Generation Automotive Wireless Communication Technologies (6G/5G-A, NearLink, Satellite Communication, UWB, etc.) and Automotive Communication Module Industry Report, 2026
Research on Next-Generation Communication and Modules: Accelerated Deployment of 5G-A, Satellite Communication, NearLink, UWB and Other Technologies in Automobiles
Automotive wireless communication t...
Research on Zonal Architecture: Smart Actuators (Micro-motors) and Application Trends in Sub-scenarios, 2026
Smart Actuator and Micro-motor Research: Under Zonal Architecture, Actuators Are Developing towards Edge Computing, 48V, and Brushless Motors.
The core components of automotive zonal architecture mai...
China Passenger Car Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) Industry Report, 2025
In 2025, NOA standardization was popularized, refined and deepened in parallel. In 2026, core variables will be added to the competitive landscape.
The evolution of autonomous driving follows a clear...
Smart Car OTA Industry Report, 2025-2026
Automotive OTA Research: In the Era of Mandatory Standards, OTA Transforms from a "Function Channel" to a New Stage of "Full Lifecycle Management"
Driven by the development and promotion of AI and so...
Automotive AI Box Research Report, 2026
Automotive AI Box Research: A new path of edge AI accelerates
This report studies the current application status of automotive AI Box from the aspects of scenario demand, product configuration, and i...