Dialogue with European mapping company TomTom: Chinese orders have skyrocketed tenfold, helping Chinese assisted driving go global | Frontline

Chinese Automobiles' Overseas Expansion Can't Do Without "Maps"

Currently, the globalization process of Chinese automakers is accelerating comprehensively. Going overseas has changed from an optional growth opportunity for enterprises to a definite growth mainline for the industry. The overseas sales volume of enterprises such as BYD and Chery has been continuously increasing. New - force automakers such as XPeng, NIO, Li Auto, and Xiaomi have also been making efforts in the overseas high - end market.

Different from the past model of opening up the market by relying on cost - effectiveness and electrification advantages, the core barrier for Chinese automakers to go overseas at this stage has shifted to intelligence. In the overseas market competition, the intelligent cockpit and advanced driver - assistance systems have become the key for Chinese automobiles to break through with differentiation.

In the intelligent cockpit segment, navigation is the function that users use most frequently and perceive most strongly on the in - vehicle system, which directly determines the basic experience of cockpit intelligence. Different from the unified road rules and data ecosystem in China, there are great differences in traffic signs, road topologies, driving habits, and road conditions in different overseas countries.

To achieve basic services such as smooth lane - level navigation, real - time traffic updates, exclusive planning for new - energy vehicle charging, and multi - language POI retrieval, automakers must rely on map data that adapts to local rules. Without the support of professional overseas maps, the intelligent experience of the cockpit will have obvious shortcomings, making it difficult to meet the needs of overseas users and directly affecting the product competitiveness.

In terms of driver - assistance systems, the value of maps runs through the entire chain of R & D, adaptation, safety, and compliance. On the one hand, the iterative training of overseas intelligent driving models of automakers requires a large amount of real local road scene data. The global road data, traffic rule data, and special scene data provided by overseas map providers are the core foundation for the models to quickly adapt to overseas road conditions and shorten the localization debugging cycle.

On the other hand, in scenarios where sensors are prone to failure, such as high - rise building blockages, tunnels, and overpasses, maps can provide over - the - horizon positioning and traffic condition prediction, make up for the perception shortcomings, and improve the stability and safety of the intelligent driving system. At the same time, mainstream overseas markets such as the EU have clear map compliance requirements for in - vehicle intelligent systems, and certified map data is a hard requirement for vehicle model access.

Whether it is the optimization of cockpit experience, the training and iteration of advanced intelligent driving, or the compliance implementation, the intelligent overseas expansion of Chinese automakers cannot do without the technical and data support of professional overseas map providers.

Chinese Orders Soar Tenfold, European Map Provider TomTom Boosts Its Business in China

TomTom is a global location intelligence and map technology company with a development history of more than 30 years. In its early days, the company's core business was in - vehicle navigation devices. In the past three or four years, it has completed a business transformation, shifting from a traditional navigation hardware manufacturer to providing standardized and scalable location data and software solutions for intelligent mobility, in - vehicle systems, and smart cities.

In terms of basic data capabilities, TomTom has formed a geographical data system covering 235 countries and regions around the world. It also has the capabilities of building, updating, and maintaining static base map data and real - time dynamic travel data. Compared with most service providers in the industry, TomTom's core difference lies in having an independently controllable global map data base, rather than just providing SDK application interfaces and collecting data region by region, which can support the implementation of standardized projects across countries and regions.

In terms of in - vehicle business cooperation, TomTom has formed a multi - level customer system. Its core cooperation partners include four mainstream vehicle manufacturers, Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, and Stellantis. It also maintains long - term cooperation with luxury automakers such as BMW and Daimler.

In the past year or so, the company has accelerated the implementation of its business in the Chinese market, serving domestic traditional automakers and new - energy vehicle manufacturers, and providing scalable in - vehicle maps and intelligent driving supporting solutions. The supporting cases cover domestic new - force and traditional automakers. In addition, the company has reached cooperation with technology companies such as Microsoft and the world's four major mobility companies, providing underlying location capabilities for terminal products and mobility platforms.

In terms of technical architecture, TomTom adopts a layered and modular location intelligence platform model. The bottom layer is the basic geographical base map, and multiple layers of functions such as 3D buildings, ADAS driver - assistance systems, new - energy services, and real - time traffic conditions are superimposed on the upper layer. At the same time, it supports customers to customize and superimpose their own data to meet the customized needs of different scenarios.

In terms of product iteration direction, TomTom is focusing on promoting the integration of navigation and ADAS driver - assistance functions to adapt to the industry development trend of in - vehicle intelligent driving. At the same time, it is implementing AI agent technology to achieve real - time push of information such as dynamic traffic conditions, road speed limits, road risks, extreme weather, and remaining charging piles, and active path optimization, completing intelligent interaction and travel decision - making assistance.

In terms of implementation efficiency, the Greater China team of TomTom focuses on the overseas expansion needs of Chinese automakers and has the ability of rapid integration and mass production implementation. It once achieved mass production implementation of a cooperation project in six months. The traffic light countdown recognition technology jointly developed with Huawei Petal Maps has completed a pilot project in Madrid, Spain, and is planned to be implemented on a large scale in Europe in the second half of 2026.

The following is a conversation between TomTom's executive team and media such as 36Kr, slightly edited without changing the original meaning:

Question: Last year, the scale of China's passenger vehicle exports reached 6 million units. What was TomTom's share in it?

Mike Schoofs: TomTom had a good performance last year. In the first quarter of this year, the number of vehicles equipped with TomTom services exported overseas reached 100,000 units.

Question: TomTom has complete map and service capabilities. Why does it still cooperate with domestic enterprises such as Huawei Petal Maps and Tencent? Is it due to regulations, automakers' needs, or cost considerations?

Mike Schoofs: Huawei Petal Maps develops software and has cooperation relationships with many Chinese automakers, so we reached a cooperation quickly. The cooperation with Tencent is mainly in the field of intelligent driving, and our cooperation mode is co - creation and win - win.

Question: Can we understand that TomTom is the overseas version of AutoNavi, providing core map support for Chinese automakers to go overseas?

Mike Schoofs: Yes, you can understand it in this way. TomTom has full - stack map data and complete software service capabilities, and its cooperation mode is highly flexible. It can sell map data separately, provide services separately, or deliver a complete set of integrated solutions, flexibly adapting to the different needs of different automakers going overseas.

Question: TomTom had a good performance last year. How much did its Chinese business contribute to this? What proportion does it hope its Chinese business will account for in the future?

Mike Schoofs: As a listed company, we are not convenient to disclose details. But what we can say is that from 2024 to 2025, TomTom's China - related orders soared tenfold.

In the future, we have two core goals. One is to improve the user experience and let customers feel the leading nature of TomTom's products. The other is to obtain more orders and help more Chinese automakers go overseas.

One way is through ADAS driver - assistance systems. We have been in talks with all major algorithm companies about how to help Chinese ADAS systems go overseas together.

Question: TomTom has a wide range of customers. Which type of customers accounts for a larger proportion? Are there any new cooperation models in recent years?

Mike Schoofs: The company's core revenue comes from the automotive business, and its partners include hardware tier1, software tier1, and various ecological partners.

Our cooperation mode is very flexible. We can provide pure map data support for AD algorithm companies, or act as a tier1 and jointly deliver overall solutions with technology companies.

Question: We noticed that Tesla is not on TomTom's customer list. Does this mean that European intelligent driving does not require high - precision maps? Do Chinese automakers going overseas to Europe have to use TomTom? Does TomTom have an "absolute advantage" in this field?

Mike Schoofs: Tesla is very strict about information disclosure and usually does not announce to the outside world what technologies it uses or which companies it cooperates with. But actually, we have a lot of contacts.

There are definitely competitors in the field of driver - assistance systems going overseas, but TomTom's advantages are also obvious. We have passed the screening of automakers such as Volkswagen, which is a kind of recognition.