Driving through the night without any light

Did you know cars can find their way even without using cameras? Sophisticated sensors make driving through the dark possible.

Until recently, you could only see it on TV. To get away from the cops at night, crooks turn off their car lights to get ride of their pursuers. The human eye can’t keep up so this often ends in a crash.

But these days tests in the Arizona desert have shown that driving through the night without using any lighting is possible. A self-driving prototype of the Ford Fusion, the American version of our Ford Mondeo, found its way with the help of new and high tech sensors. According to Ford, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology helped the car to scan the environment using a laser with a rate of 2.8 million/sec. The car found its way without a problem.

Laser, radar and 3D maps illuminate the way ahead

Ford explains that their autonomous cars use high resolution 3D maps to drive in the dark. These maps contain data about the topography, streets, road markings, buldings, streets signs and trees in the environment. For autonomous driving, the vehicle compares the detected real-time impulses from the LiDAR sensor with the map and the data of the radar. During the tests the Ford Fusion stayed perfectly in its path, even at curvy roads.

Autonomous driving has the potential to benefit the safety of those driving at night. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, accidents with casualties happen three times more often at night than during the day.

Ford explains that they have studied advanced technologies for autonomous driving for well over ten years. Their goal is to develop cars that meet the international SAE standard level 4. This means that the driver would not need to intervene at all. Additional road testing is happening in California, Michigan and Arizona. A large-scale implementation of LiDAR technology in new cars has not happened yet.

This article was featured on www.dekra-solutions.com.