Research Overview

Increase in adoption of advanced driver assistance systems and evolution in autonomy has intensified the need to sense and perceive vehicle surroundings entirely and accurately. With the rise in the level of autonomy, the number of perception sensors will increase to provide complete 360o perception of vehicle surroundings and an additional layer of redundancy to the data collected by each sensor.

While existing sensors do the required jobs, each of them have a number of limitations to perform in extreme weather and light conditions. Level 3 and above autonomy require the sensors to detect objects at long range, identify and classify objects, and need high-resolution capabilities to develop high-definition map of the surrounding environment. While most sensor evolutions are trying to address the above-discussed challenges offering high reliability and robustness, it is also critical to address challenges such as packaging the sensor on a vehicle, maintaining the sensor to cope with external conditions, and offering a competitive price.

Traditionally Tier-1 suppliers have been manufacturing sensors for effective functioning of a vehicle. The challenges posed by ADAS and autonomous driving have encouraged multiple hardware and solution developers to develop sensor hardware, AI-based software, and wholesome perception solutions. Some key disruptors in the perception sensor industry offer embedded and hardware-agnostic software platforms to integrate other sensors for sensor fusion and other value-added solutions to enhance the capability of sensors and provide holistic perception solutions.