Automotive LIDAR sensor development scenarios for harsh weather conditions

This article focuses on development baseline for a novel LIDAR for future autonomous cars, which require perception not only in clear weather, but also under harsh weather conditions such as fog and rain. Development of automotive laser scanners is bound to the following requirements: maximize sensor performance, assess the performance level and keep the scanner component costs reasonable (<;1000 €) even if more expensive optical and electronic components are needed. The objective of this article is to review the existing automotive laser scanners and their capabilities to pave the way for developing new scanner prototypes, which are more capable in harsh weather conditions. Testing of scanner capabilities has been conducted in the northern part of the Finland, at Sodankylä Airport, where fog creates a special problem. The scanner has been installed in the airport area for data gathering and analyzes if fog, snow or rain are visible in the scanner data. The results indicate that these conditions degrade sensor performance by 25%, and therefore, future work in software module development should take this into account with in-vehicle system performance estimations concerning the visual range of the scanner. This allows the vehicle to adapt speed, braking distance and stability control systems accordingly.

I. Introduction

Autonomous driving is one of the main development targets in the automotive industry today. Although current automobiles include various driver assistance systems, electronics, and communications, requirements of automation are creating a whole new level of demands. The transition from manual driven cars to automatic ones will take years and need to evolve one step at a time. [1]. One actual challenge is different weather conditions, when even a driver may experience difficulty in driving (e.g. snowfall, icy roads, spraying water, etc.) [2]. This becomes a far more serious problem when software is created to steer an automated car that needs to be able to adapt to various outdoor conditions, in a manner similar to that of humans [3]. Previously, these types of road weather performance estimation systems have been used in roadside units to support cooperative vehicle-to-road unit (V2X) interaction [4], [5].