In an announcement on Thursday, the Tier 1 auto-parts maker Bosch is planning to use remote pulsed laser light sensors to measure distances, officially known as LIDAR. They are one of the few companies with the scale and infrastructure to supply parts directly to global carmakers.

 

Today advanced driver assistance systems tend to ignore stationary objects relative to the traveled roadway. Most of the time, on limited-access roads, this is not a problem as most cars are moving, but signs, light posts, etc. are not in the lanes of travel, but that does mean a chance for steering mistakes around construction and emergencies.

 

Hence, lidar has the potential to improve the performance of today’s ADAS systems substantially. Radar may not be able to distinguish a fire truck parked next to the travel lane from one parked in the travel lane. But a lidar sensor can. With help from lidar, the next generation of ADAS systems will better understand its environment and be able to avoid more crashes.