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What are the challenges that prevent us from having safe autonomous vehicles on the road today?

Today we are joined by DeepMap co-founder and CEO James Wu to talk about how the company wants to tackle these challenges and accelerate the progress and availability of safe autonomy by providing the world's best HD mapping and localization services.
##The Challenges of Safe Autonomy
DeepMap is building a software solution for HD mapping and localization for autonomous vehicles, but there are a few major challenges to overcome.

First, there's the technology challenge, which is a very difficult problem to solve. Another big issue is the economic challenge. How can we make a self driving car that's actually more affordable than a human driven car?
##DeepMap’s Mission
DeepMap co-founder and CEO James Wu realized that all the major players in the space will be facing the same challenges.

"It doesn't make sense to reinvent the wheel over and over as an industry," says Wu. If everyone is building their own self driving car and developing their own HD map, valuable time and resources are wasted.

The ultimate goal is to make self driving car technology a commodity sooner by partnering with companies working in the self driving space. DeepMap is building a powerful HD map engine which enables their customers to do mapping and localization quickly, reliably, and affordably.
##The Future of Self Driving Vehicles
So the big question is, how far away are we from having autonomous vehicles? James Wu says while the technology itself is progressing, there is still work to be done in other areas. For example, cooperation and new regulations will be needed from many different agencies and companies, according to Wu.

Key takeaways:

• DeepMap's mission is to accelerate safe autonomy by providing the world's best HD mapping and localization services;
• DeepMap is using cutting edge machine learning technology
• DeepMap is laser focused on solving a real business problem and helping their customers map the physical world at an affordable cost;
• James Wu, a leading expert in mapping technology, believes we are approaching a time when human drivers will share the road with autonomous vehicles, but this will require further coordination from companies, policy makers, and government agencies.