Detection of Conductive Lane Markers using mm Wave FMCW Automotive Radar

Localization of vehicles in inclement weather conditions, including snow and heavy rain, is a significant issue plaguing autonomous vehicle systems. Our work takes a step towards tackling this problem by leveraging existing hardware commonly used in self-driving vehicles, namely low-cost millimetre wave (mmWave) radar systems to detect conductive paint on roads. This paper presents the results of preliminary experiments that indicated that, even with full snow converge of the conductive paint, the radar system is still able to successfully detect the material as a potential marker for lateral vehicle localization.