NVIDIA has agreed to acquire DeepMap, a startup dedicated to building high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles to navigate the world safely.

“DeepMap is expected to extend our mapping products, help us scale worldwide map operations and expand our full self-driving expertise,” said Ali Kani, vice president and general manager of Automotive at NVIDIA.

NVIDIA will continue working with DeepMap’s ecosystem to meet their needs, investing in new capabilities and services for new and existing partners.

NVIDIA DRIVE is a software-defined, end-to-end platform — from deep neural network training and validation in the data center to high-performance compute in the vehicle — that enables continuous improvement and deployment via over-the-air updates.

DeepMap’s technology will bolster the mapping and localization capabilities available on NVIDIA DRIVE, ensuring autonomous vehicles always know precisely where they are and where they’re going.

DeepMap was founded five years ago by Wu and Mark Wheeler, veterans of Google, Apple and Baidu, among other companies. The U.S.-based company has developed a high-definition mapping solution that meets these requirements and has already been validated by the AV industry with a wide array of potential customers around the world.

The acquisition is likely to close in the third calendar quarter of 2021.