HERE Technologies and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) have announced a collaborative deal in the autonomous vehicles market.

The companies' initial focus will be on providing services for manufacturers, for example, supporting smart lane-level guidance for vehicles based on real-time information about traffic conditions and incidents.

They will also evaluate how information from vehicle sensors gathered by MELCO can be used for high-definition map updates.

The companies intend to draw on their existing strengths, including: HERE's mapping infrastructure for autonomous cars, the HD Live Map; HERE's Open Location Platform; and MELCO's precise positioning technology, High-Definition Locator, for data processing, location analytics and the creation of new services.

Their services will initially be aimed at automotive customers in North America and Europe, before making them available more broadly. The companies will also work together to define possible services that target other industries beyond the automotive market.

Edzard Overbeek, chief executive officer of HERE Technologies, said: 'Location technology is at the core of the digital transformation happening right now across every industry and this has been the starting point for some very productive discussions between HERE Technologies and Mitsubishi Electric.

'Each company has unique capabilities to bring to the partnership to shape the digital transformation and, together, we believe we can create tremendous value for our customers.

'While our initial focus will be on self-driving cars, over time we see our collaboration broadening as we explore powerful new services and business models for the emerging autonomous world'

Isao Iguchi, SVP and group president of automotive equipment of MELCO, said: 'Mitsubishi Electric is actively developing self-sensing driving technologies incorporating various peripheral-sensing technologies, and network-based driving technologies incorporating satellite system and high accuracy 3D mapping.

'We believe that our partnership with HERE Technologies will strengthen our global rollout of network-based technologies for extra-autonomous driving'