Andrew Kouri was working at Tesla when he noticed a big problem standing in the way of self-driving cars.

When it comes to autonomous driving capabilities, Tesla's cars are among the most sophisticated on the road. The electric-car maker's Autopilot system allows the vehicles to drive in heavy traffic and follow winding paths on highways.

But if the company wants its Model S and Model X cars to become truly autonomous and capable of handling any driving scenario, the vehicle's cameras and sensors alone won't be enough.

Instead, they will need something else — like high-definition maps.