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By Meg Flippin, Benzinga
When it comes to autonomous driving, safety and accuracy are top of mind. For self-driving cars, trucks and trains to become ubiquitous on America’s roads, streets and railways, they must be extremely safe and reliable. The same goes for the robots that will someday deliver everything from food to medicine without human intervention. They have to be able to see everything around them and react in real time to avoid crashes.
Technology advances and companies like Aeva Technologies (NYSE: AEVA) are making that a reality. Mountain View, California-based Aeva makes LiDAR sensors for use in vehicles, trucks and trains. The sensors act as eyes, providing 3D views of the surroundings.
FMCW, The Technology Enabler For Highway Autonomy
What takes Aeva’s sensors to the next level on the safety and reliability fronts is its Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) 4D LiDAR technology, which uses a low-power continuous laser beam to measure range and a fourth dimension of velocity at the same time.
Aeva says FMCW unlocks new levels of safety and automation by instantaneously discriminating between moving and non-moving points and knowing the precise velocity of objects in motion. Instant velocity data gives real-time insight into how an object’s position is changing, giving the vehicle’s computer a more accurate picture to help plan its next move.
But that’s not all. Aeva’s sensors also have advanced perception capabilities that deliver new features, which the company says are not possible with typical legacy LiDAR sensors, including Ultra resolution and vehicle localization.
Ultra resolution provides a camera-like image of the world providing what Aeva Technologies says is up to 20 times the resolution of legacy time-of-flight LiDAR sensors. Image segmentation enables the detection of roadway markings, drivable regions, vegetation, road barriers and road hazards like tire fragments at up to twice the distance of conventional time-of-flight LiDAR sensors. Instant velocity data allows for confident detection and tracking of dynamic objects such as oncoming vehicles and other moving objects at distances up to 500 meters, reports Aeva.
Meanwhile the technology’s Vehicle Localization features enable real-time vehicle motion estimation with six degrees of freedom, providing accurate vehicle positioning and navigation, which could be a substitute for other sensors, like IMU or GPS. That provides for safe autonomous navigation in common GPS-denied environments like tunnels and parking structures.
Aeva says its FMCW technology provides autonomous vehicles with freedom from interference from sunlight and other LiDAR sensors, elimination of retroreflector blooming and ghosting from highly reflective objects like street signs and roadway markings, as well as a greater ability to see in weather conditions like dust, fog, rain and snow. Importantly, these benefits can allow automated vehicles to safely operate at highway speeds, a feat that has been sought after by major car manufacturers.
Overcoming The Limitations
With all that safety and technology packed into Aeva’s LiDAR sensors, Aeva is overcoming one of the biggest challenges of self-driving vehicles today: blindspots. Self-driving vehicle algorithms and conventional sensors can have difficulty when the weather is bad, lane markings are not clear or unexpected obstacles are in their way. That can lead to accidents and fatalities. Reacting in real-time is the goal and Aeva delivers that with its LiDAR sensors.
The company’s FMCW LiDAR sensors can also enable self-driving cars and trucks to achieve highway speeds safely. It's something that has eluded the industry so far, with many self-driving vehicles achieving top speeds of 35 to 45 MPH. For the trucking industry to move to autonomous vehicles, it has to be able to sustain highway speeds safely. Achieving that can someday address the labor shortages the heavy truck industry faces. Finding drivers who want to spend most of their time on the road and away from family for three to four-week clips is harder to come by. Autonomous trucks that can run all day and all night can help fill that gap.
It’s why Daimler Truck AG is using Aeva’s sensors in its Class 8 Freightliner Cascadia autonomous truck platform. Daimler Truck intends to integrate the LiDAR sensors directly into its production process, making it easy for customers to buy autonomous-ready trucks directly from its manufacturing plants. Daimler Truck said it chose Aeva’s LiDAR sensors because of its ability to provide enhanced safety and control. “Daimler Truck is committed to leading the industry’s advancement toward autonomous trucks. Selecting the right LiDAR technology is a crucial strategic decision to safely deploy autonomous trucks on the road,” said Joanna Buttler, Head of Global Autonomous Technology Group at Daimler Truck. “We are convinced that Aeva with its cutting-edge and reliable technology is the right production partner for LiDAR sensors and has the manufacturing capabilities to scale along with us.”
The world is moving toward autonomous vehicles but for them to become ubiquitous safety can’t be a question. That’s where companies like Aeva Technologies come in. Its advanced next-generation LiDAR sensors can react in real-time, potentially taking autonomous driving to the next level.
Learn more about Aeva Technologies Inc. by checking out its investors deck here.
Featured photo by Chris Bair on Unsplash.
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