Bad weather still the main issue for driverless-tech sensors?

Sensing technology is the powerful tool that gives vision to next-generation automobiles.

Equipped with a device array anchored by LiDAR and video cameras, the average advanced vehicle of today “sees” and “feels” the road and surrounding topography more clearly than its predecessors ever could. However, there is one major problem with these devices – like our own eyes, their effectiveness can be badly affected by the weather. Rain, fog, mud, almost any challenge from Mother Nature can cloud those eyes, threatening the effectiveness of the advanced assistive features that depend on them.

“Cameras, LiDARs, IR cameras are all susceptible to bad weather. It’s basic physics,” said Miles Flamenbaum, CEO of Actasys. “If something is on the lens, like a raindrop, the incoming visual data (images for a camera, laser beams for a LiDAR) is refracted and the sensor may not be able to receive enough data to inform the underlying ADAS system.”

There is much to clean, however. Tim Sylvester, CEO and CTO of Integrated Roadways, pointed out that: “It’s not just weather that can affect functionality but sunlight at the wrong angle, glare, glinting off steel or chrome, something hanging from the rearview mirror, an errant stone, ice formation, a tree branch falling on the roof.”

Some in the connected vehicle space argue that certain devices are more at the mercy of the weather than others. Specialist LiDAR company Velodyne’s vice-president of government affairs Christina Aizcorbe, said about cameras: “Common driving conditions like bright sunlight, glare, rain, and darkness can present real challenges. As a result, cameras are more susceptible to unpredictable blind spots and to generating false positives and/or negatives. Where cameras are dependent on ambient light conditions, LiDAR provides its own light source, allowing it to work in all lighting and weather conditions.”

So, under threat of the elements, what’s a device maker or automaker to do?

To read the complete article, visit TU-Automotive.