Whale Dynamic Joins Hitch Open World AI Championships as Official Mapping Technology Partner, Delivering Centimeter-Accurate HD Map of Tianmen Mountain for 2026 Racing Season
SAN FRANCISCO and SHENZHEN, China and ZHANGJIAJIE, China, Might 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hitch Open World AI Championships and Whale Dynamic right this moment introduced that their strategic partnership has entered full-scale supply. Whale Dynamic will present all Hitch Open competing groups with a centimeter-accurate 3D high-definition (HD) map protecting the whole 10.77-kilometer Tianmen Mountain course—that includes 1,100 meters of elevation change and 99 consecutive hairpin turns—because the unified localization baseline for the Hitch Open World AI Racing Championships 2026, scheduled for June 25–26 in Zhangjiajie, China.
Joint On-Web site Survey Accomplished
A joint survey workforce from Whale Dynamic and the Hitch Open Committee has accomplished a full high-precision LiDAR scanning operation throughout the whole 99-turn mountain course. Utilizing Whale Dynamic’s proprietary multi-beam LiDAR and visual-image deep-fusion SLAM know-how, the workforce constructed a seamless, industrial-grade 3D map capturing road-surface geometry, lane boundaries, guardrails, tunnels, gradient, and curvature information—all at centimeter-level accuracy.
The map offers competing groups with 4 essential capabilities:
- A centimeter-accurate 3D baseline spanning the complete 10.77 km because the unified reference body for localization and path planning;
- Strong localization in GPS-denied environments by means of real-time LiDAR-to-map matching, compensating for satellite tv for pc sign loss in tunnels, deep valleys, and dense forest;
- Full-stack notion–prediction–planning help, with prior curvature, gradient, and sight-distance information feeding immediately into trajectory planning and limit-condition resolution fashions;
- Knowledge equity and auditability—all groups compete on an equivalent map, eliminating efficiency noise from map disparities and making the algorithm the only real variable figuring out outcomes.
AWSIM Adopted as Official Simulation Platform
Alongside the HD map supply, Hitch Open has formally adopted the open-source Autoware Simulator (AWSIM) as its official simulation racing platform. Whale Dynamic will help all groups in importing the Tianmen Mountain HD map into AWSIM, together with sensor simulation fashions, car dynamics, and course belongings, to create a digital twin of the complete course. Groups’ algorithm efficiency on this digital-twin Tianmen Mountain will function the official format for future simulation qualifying rounds, enabling universities worldwide to compete in preliminary rounds remotely earlier than advancing to the on-site finals.
“We’re excited to have accomplished this difficult on-site road-scanning operation along with the Hitch Open Organizing Committee. Tianmen Mountain’s 99 turns characterize the final word check of an autonomous driving system’s notion, localization, and decision-making below excessive circumstances. By way of our industrial-grade HD map and localization baseline, we intention to offer each competing workforce worldwide a unified, dependable, and publicly verifiable technical basis.”
— Mr. David Chang, Founder and CEO, Whale Dynamic
“Hitch Open and Whale Dynamic have accomplished the complete loop—from signing on the Components 1 Chinese language Grand Prix, to the joint Tianmen Mountain survey, to HD map supply—offering all groups with an industrial-grade 3D localization resolution. Our adoption of AWSIM because the official simulation platform additional enhances the openness and standardization of the championships, making a digital-twin pathway for extra groups world wide to take part.”
— Ms. Crystal Tang, Chairperson, Hitch Open Organizing Committee
About Whale Dynamic
Based in 2018, Whale Dynamic is a number one AI-driven know-how firm specializing in built-in hardware-software techniques, clever car platforms, and autonomous driving information options. The corporate delivers end-to-end know-how for L4-level autonomous automobiles on public roads, with deep experience in multi-sensor fusion, environmental notion, planning and management, and industrial-grade HD map development. Web site: http://www.whaledynamic.com
About Hitch Open World AI Championships
Hitch Open is the world’s first bodily intelligence enviornment within the pure world, utilizing real-world excessive situations to systematically check the protection, reliability, and restrict capabilities of AI autonomous driving and robotics. The platform has set world data in autonomous driving, vertical-track racing, and humanoid robotics, and is dedicated to constructing an open, honest, and collaborative ecosystem that advances frontier applied sciences from the laboratory to the actual world. Hitch Open is organized by Hitch Interactive. Web site: hitchopen.ai
Media Contact
Clever Racing Inc. dba Hitch Interactive
E mail: media@intelligentracing.com
Whale Dynamic
E mail: enterprise@whaledynamic.com
