Hitachi Astemo Americas and Light, the leading company in real-time 3D depth perception that redefines how vehicles see the world, have begun 'proof of concept development of a forward-facing perception.
The project is primarily for use in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Hitachi Astemo Americas, Inc. manufactures and markets engine management, electric powertrain, integrated vehicle control for major automotive manufacturers worldwide.
The two companies will begin to field test the new multi-view, camera-based sensing technology later this month. Light's Clarity system, a multi-view perception platform, has better range, detail and accuracy at a distance than existing sensor solutions. It integrates seamlessly into Hitachi Astemo's ADAS to work directly with other ADAS and ECU (engine control unit) applications.
Clarity uses cameras designed to see any 3D structures in the road from 10 centimetres to 1,000 meters away – three times the range and 20x the detail of the best-in-class LiDAR.
The system outperforms existing sensing solutions by seamlessly combining visual information from cameras with measured depth so that longer distances and greater detail can be measured rather than only inferred by machine learning.
There are several benefits, including safer automatic emergency braking, evasive steering control for a wider variety of objects, adaptive suspension adjustment for road hazards such as potholes, and smoother adaptive cruise-control and lane-keeping systems.
John Nunneley, Senior Vice President, Design Engineering, Hitachi Astemo Americas, said, 'Building upon our decades of experience and together with Light, we are looking to create the next generation of leading ADAS and autonomous driving solutions.'
Dave Grannan, Co-founder & CEO, Light, said the company's Clarity platform enables machines to see better than humans. It sees farther, and with greater detail, than other solutions available on the market. Aligning on this project with Hitachi Astemo is an outstanding opportunity to prove the capabilities of the range and detail of the Clarity platform, he added.