The chemical producer BASF wants to help the auto industry with the development of the lidar and relies on new coatings.
The lidar is probably the most important sensor on board Autonomous Cars. This sensor enables the detection of the environment of a car in 3D. For example, with this information, the car can get better situate and plan the route. But there is a problem: Dark paints are not recognized so well by lidar sensors.
Lidar sensor on the roof
Therefore, BASF has now come up with something and has developed coatings that can be better “seen” by the Lidar. This mainly affects dark paint colors. These are problematic due to the reflection in the infrared spectrum. The lidar sends a light off and whether the reflection can measure the distance. Darker colors absorb the light more intensely, so less light is sent back.
Above all, BASF wants to do without soot particles in the paint. These are mainly responsible for the reduced reflectivity of the paint. In addition, the primer is to be selected so that the Lidarsensor can perceive this better.
This could be the identification of self-propelled cars solve the same. So these vehicles could be sprayed with a uniform paint, which can be seen immediately. However, BASF would then have a monopoly on it. But maybe there will be an industry-wide and uniform color solution. This would have Autonomous cars a recognition effect as it is the case for example in taxis.
But the development of the Lidar is currently underway. So far, the focus is on distance, but there may soon be some new developments in the perception skills of the lidar sensor. Or maybe a mix of both approaches is the solution for autonomous driving.
source (English)
About David Flora
I’ve been writing about the topic of Autonomous & Connected Driving since 2011 and also talk about it on other sites like the Smart Mobility Hub. I studied social sciences at the HU Berlin and since 2012 I am a freelance journalist. Contact: mail@autonomes-fahren.de