Flir’s Automotive Development Kit taps thermal imaging to improve driverless cars
Lidar — sensors that measure the distance to objects by illuminating them with light and measuring the reflected pulses — are the cornerstone of autonomous car systems from Waymo, Uber, and dozens of others. But they’re susceptible to interference from inclement weather, darkness, fog, smoke, haze, and sun glare, which is why Wilsonville, Oregon-based Flir is advancing an alternative: thermal vision. At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Flir announced its next-generation thermal vision Automotive Development Kit (ADK) for the development of self-driving cars.