TMAP users now open the navigation app more than 30 times a month on average, or roughly once a day. Vehicles equipped with the in-car navigation service TMAP Auto have passed 1.15 million, and in-car usage is climbing as the service expands to global automakers.
TMAP Mobility said on the 21st that monthly visits per user averaged 30 in the first nine months of this year, up about 11% from 27 in the same period a year earlier. Total monthly visits rose more than 10% to about 446 million from about 403 million. Monthly consumption of major in-app content such as "Where to Go" and the pedometer feature reached about 62 million views, more than double the year-earlier level.
Usage inside vehicles is also expanding. Users of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay rose 8.9% to 3.16 million from 2.9 million a year earlier. Vehicles fitted with TMAP Auto increased about 50% to 1.15 million in September this year from 770,000 in January last year. TMAP Auto is supplied to about 20 domestic and foreign automotive brands, including Volvo, Polestar and BMW.
The company is investing in next-generation technology to sustain that growth. It is developing a 3D lane-level navigation system for the autonomous driving era, targeting commercial rollout in 2027. Based on its own high-definition maps, the system displays a "guidance carpet" on the road that matches the width, curvature and branching of the lane being driven. The company plans to introduce it first on expressways and urban motorways nationwide before extending it to major city centers.
TMAP Mobility will then work with automakers to display lane markings and surrounding objects detected by cameras and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) sensors on 3D maps, and link the data with in-vehicle precision positioning technology to improve lane-level map-matching accuracy.
TMAP Auto is also being upgraded into an artificial intelligence agent. The plan is to combine it with navigation to create an AI agent specialized in places and mobility, one that understands searches, route choices and driving conditions and delivers traffic and location information in the context of a conversation. The goal is to have the agent actively find the information a driver asks for, carry out functions such as changing a destination or route, and reflect individual preferences for guidance.
"Trust in TMAP as the navigation service Korean drivers turn to most frequently is translating into adoption by global automakers," a TMAP Mobility official said. "We will strengthen our standing by advancing the user experience that carries over from mobile to the vehicle with next-generation technologies such as 3D navigation and AI agents."