IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2016 - 49

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technologies that may offer a better
solution. To fulfill and complete this
task, the process can typically take
four to six years. Figure 3 conveys the
complexities in the process of bringing a safety feature through the regulatory system before it becomes
available to the consumer.
When NHTSA sees an existing
technology that would significantly
benefit the safety of vehicles or
reduce economic costs of transportation, by mandate, it issues a
Notice of Potential Rule Making
(NPRM); solicits comments from
the public, OEMs, and suppliers;
and makes a ruling on either moving forward with an NCAP or
FMVSS change to introduce the
technology. The NPRM is a key
trigger to the industry that the
chances of a technology going
mainstream are now high, spurring
innovation and development projects to either guide the regulation
or be prepared to introduce it if a
change is set forth. The more proactive an OEM or supplier is in
envisioning either the usefulness
of a technology or the probability
of it being mandated in the near
future, the better it is positioned to
capture a lead position in the market-bringing us to
LIDAR and ADASs, the focus of this article. Using the
example of LIDAR technology will help illustrate the challenges in bringing a new technology to market and in it
becoming one of the pillars for external sensing needed in
the fully autonomous vehicle. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on only the ADAS active safety applications of automatic emergency braking, forward collision
warning, blind-spot detection, and rear cross-traffic alert.
Forward camera, radar, and LIDAR are generally accepted
as the key sensing technologies for these ADAS applications. Stereo cameras and ultrasonic sensors are also used
but expected to gradually give way to LIDAR. Table 1
compares radar, camera, and LIDAR technologies.
The additional value that LIDAR brings to the camera
and radar combination is angular resolution of the object
detected, especially scanning LIDAR, which can have a
less than 0.5° angular resolution in the horizontal field of
view (HFOV). Flash LIDAR (see Figures 4 and 5), primarily aimed at collision avoidance and detection of large
objects such as cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, has been on
the market for over four years and is comparatively low
cost. However, flash LIDAR is not capable of reliably

An automobile, at its core, is a safety device that must
operate reliably for ten to 15 years. According to a recent
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) paper on active
safety by Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing at
Consumer Reports, safety is the top buying consideration
for consumers, followed by cost and reli ability of the
vehicle. The paper also states that consumers are willing
to pay 10-30% more for backup cameras, blind-spot monitoring, FCW/automatic brakes, rear cross-traffic alert,
and lane departure warning systems. A paper written by
David Zuby of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
(IIHS) cites a 28-38% reduction in insurance claims for
vehicles with automatic emergency braking compared to
those without, aligning well with the growing consumer
interest in ADAS applications.
When it comes to safety-related applications, consumers
demand assurance from a regulatory body that the systems
meet minimum standards for safe use. The automotive industry, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA), SAE, IIHS, and other such entities are working
together to develop requirements, testing methods, and
acceptance criteria, while at the same time working to do so
without thwarting innovation or boxing out competing

JULY 2016

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2016
