Night riders: next generation automotive vision systems

Night time is statistically the most dangerous period on the road. A study in the US found that an alarming 75 per cent of pedestrian fatalities occurred after dark, while collisions with large animals such as deer also go up substantially at night.

In an effort to reduce these risks, automotive manufacturers started experimenting with night vision systems back in the early 2000s. Since then the technology has increased in sophistication. And with the growing importance of ADAS functions and move towards self-driving cars, it’s no longer just drivers that need to see in the dark.

Infrared sensing is the obvious solution; it’s vastly cheaper than LiDAR, more accurate than radar and better in poor visibility than a conventional camera. Historically, the only real debate has been between active sensors, which use a dedicated emitter to bounce short-wave infrared off the target, and passive systems, which detect long-wave ‘thermal infrared’ without the need for illumination.