Ford backs startup that makes 3D maps for self-driving cars

Ford is expanding its involvement in self-driving car technology by joining a $6.6m funding round for 3D map-maker Civil Maps. The seed round was led by Motus Ventures, which was joined by Ford, Wicklow Capital, StartX Stanford, and Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang's AME Cloud Ventures. Mapping technology is seen as a key piece in the autonomous vehicle race, as German auto-makers' acquisition of Here maps from Nokia last year illustrated. Civil Maps, which uses spatial data to create "extremely accurate localization", claims its technology is better suited to autonomous vehicles and mobile networks than existing mapping technologies.