TECH

Standalone cars will be able to "peek" at the corners thanks to new laser technology
The "magic" behind autonomous cars is mainly about collecting information from the space around them, but the truth is that not even the best computer systems can see through the obstacles that cross their field of vision. New technology, however, promises to solve the problem in the corners, thanks to a laser that reflects on the walls closer to measure what is beyond what is possible to see.The program, developed at Stanford University, is based on the idea that it is possible to gauge the size and shape of an object through the way light scatters as it strikes its surface. Those responsible explain that it is not easy to design a technology like this, since the laser can lose orientation in conditions where there is plenty of natural light. In addition, it takes a lot of processing power to calculate all the information that is communicated by the light beam.
"Despite recent developments, imaging of objects that are out of sight, remains impractical due to the prohibitive memory and processing requirements that are required by today's reconstruction algorithms," read the document published by the team of US researchers, this month in the journal Nature.
Those responsible say that the process still takes a few minutes to complete, but they point out that it is only a first step in the development of a technology that can solve a major problem in the navigation of autonomous vehicles. Once applied to LIDAR systems, which are being used by major brands in the first tests of their autonomous fleets, the process should be accelerated. The question is "whether hardware supports this kind of technology," comments Gordon Wetzstein, project leader.

If it can be applied, the technology could soon be integrated into the existing LIDAR systems, which will open new doors to companies that are on the ground exploring this segment of the road, such as Waymo, Apple or Uber.

Sapo