September 2023 - 19

p Figure 2 - Spectrum enhanced detection and ranging (SEDAR)
Photo courtesy of trieye.tech/sedar
those requirements are about to change.
For example, in the U.S., within the
2021 Infrastructure Investments and
Jobs Act bill, NHTSA has established
a 10-year roadmap with a deeper focus
on enhanced Pedestrian Automated
Emergency Braking (PAEB) technologies,
especially during low-light conditions. In
Europe, their NCAP does not currently
test active safety systems with an environmental
lighting condition below 5 lux.
Twilight is >3 lux and this occurs when
the sun is six percent below the horizon.
For reference, streetlights bring the lux
level to around 15.
Following the tragic death in Arizona
of a VRU by an Uber-owned and operated
autonomous vehicle back in 2018,
Teledyne FLIR later presented at the
Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
how their infrared sensing technology is
superior to lidar, radar, and camera vision
in situations like this. Their demonstration
and claim stated that the VRU was
able to be detected up to three times earlier
than the current suite of technology
deployed on the vehicle by adding infrared
thermal camera capabilities. When I
saw this presentation, I was amazed by
the data and performance of their system,
and I certainly expected to see a significant
shift in the adoption of such technologies
into the market. Although this
hasn't happened yet by a great margin, I
expect to see wide use of these systems
in the future.
PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE INFRARED
Passive infrared cameras use the heat (thermal
radiation) emanating from a source like
humans and animals. An active system casts
an infrared signal from the imaging device
onto the scene so its sensors can gather lowlight
information.
VEHICLE HISTORY: NIGHT VISION
In 2000, General Motors offered Night
Vision as an option on the 2000 Cadillac
DeVille by implementing the use of a
passive infrared sensor mounted behind
the grill which used the heads-up display
(HUD) cast onto the windshield. In 2004,
GM eliminated this offering. In 2002,
Toyota offered Night View on the Land
Cruiser and the Lexus LX470 utilizing an
active system that displayed the environment
in front of the vehicle to the driver
via the HUD on the windshield. Audi
introduced the Night Vision Assistant
(passive) in 2010 on the A8 which displays
images in the central instrument cluster
between the main gauges. Today, Audi
offers this on several vehicles (Figure 1).
Audi claims that their Night Vision can
look ahead up to about 1,000' and detect
VRUs at just over 300'. By my calculations,
a vehicle traveling at 85 mph would
have about a 3-second lead time in total
darkness to take corrective action on a
potential threat.
SEDAR - SPECTRUM ENHANCED
DETECTION AND RANGING
The company Trieye has introduced
a new mix of potential low-light vision
solutions through the implementation of a
CMOS-based high-definition short-range
infrared (SWIR) sensor that allows for
3-D mapping of the road ahead in all visibility
conditions (Figure 2). According
to their website trieye.tech/sedar, they
claim at mass production, one can realize
a 10 times cost reduction compared
to existing lidar solutions available today.
www.VehicleServicePros.com SEPTEMBER 2023 PROFESSIONAL TOOL & EQUIPMENT NEWS 19
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September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2023
