How LiDAR Is A Key Factor In Autonomous Vehicles?


Introduction

Autonomous vehicles are the future of transportation. As you know, many organizations are already working on it. Companies like Google, Apple, Hyundai, Tesla, and more are actively testing and developing autonomous cars and vehicles. You may have heard the name Tesla at some point in your life, and how Tesla is developing and manufacturing self-driving cars. 

You also may have seen a tesla driving by itself. It is such a fascinating concept to see cars driving by themselves. But have you ever thought about how these vehicles work? How do they know where to go, how to analyze different road conditions, where are breakers, people, animals, other cars, and more?

This all starts with the development phase of complex machine learning algorithms. Companies need a high-quality dataset to train their machines, and this data is then used to train and test the algorithm. This article goes on to explore what an autonomous vehicle is, what is LiDAR, how it works, applications and disadvantages of LiDAR in autonomous vehicles. 

What are Autonomous Vehicles?

Autonomous vehicles, driverless cars, or self-driving cars are the one that operates and perform all necessary functions by themselves, without any human intervention. 

There are 6 levels of autonomous vehicles, which are:

Step 0: No Automation: There is no automation involved. A human would perform all the functions. 

Step 1: Driver Assistance: Here, a vehicle features a single automated system like monitoring speed through cruise control.

Step 2: Partial Automation: Here, the vehicle can perform steering and acceleration, but the human can intervene at any point. 

Step 3: Conditional Automation: Most driving tasks can be performed by the vehicle. It also has environmental detection capabilities. But human intervention is still required. 

Step 4: High Automation: The vehicle is capable of performing all driver tasks, but human interference is still an option. 

Step 5: Full Automation: The vehicle is capable of driving the car in any condition. There is no need for human attention. 

What is LiDAR?

LiDAR is short for Light Detection and Ranging. It is a remote sensing technology that uses laser sensors to measure the distance and dimensions between the sensor and target objects like a person, object, breakers, and more. 

LiDAR has been around since 1960. It was first used in planes to detect terrain. Its main purpose is to act as the eyes of the vehicle. As it has the ability to map the environment in 360 degrees, LiDAR helps the vehicle to identify objects that are near and on the road to avoid collision with other cars, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, or any object that is either stationary or non-stationary. 

How do LiDAR works?

LiDAR primarily works in four key elements:

1. Laser: The laser sends the pulses of light to target objects like building, vehicles, pedestrians, and more. Generally, the light waves are ultraviolet, infrared, or near-infrared. 

2. Scanner: It regulates the speed at which the laser scan target objects and the distance laser can reach.

3. Sensor: This measures the time it takes for the light to bounce off the target object and return back to LiDAR. 

4. GPS: It tracks the location of the LiDAR system to ensure that the distance between the target object and the system is precise and accurate. 

Every second, a modern LiDAR system can emit 500,000 pulses. The system combines the pulses into a point cloud, which is a collection of coordinates that depicts things in space. A 3D model of the space is then created using the point cloud.

Applications/Use cases of LiDAR

There are several uses of AI in autonomous vehicles. Some of the use cases include:

Self-Driving Vehicles

Self-driving cars are not common on our roads, but they will be soon. In combination with data from RADAR sensors and cameras, these vehicles use AI-powered LiDAR to scan the surrounding region, develop 3D models of the space, and make near-instantaneous choices on how the vehicle should move. In order to ensure the safety of the vehicle's passengers, accurate LiDAR is required.

Agriculture

In agriculture, teams deploy drones that are equipped with AI-powered LiDAR systems to quickly create topographical maps of fields. Based on elevation and solar exposure, these maps assist farmers in determining suitable sites to produce crops, apply fertilizer, and apply pesticides. Farmers can also use LiDAR to track crop yield rates after seed distribution.

Military and Construction

For decades, many militaries have utilized LiDAR to survey boundaries and detect suspicious things. We may witness autonomous surveying of areas for potential risk as AI opens up additional opportunities. Workers on dangerous working sites in construction or related sectors may also benefit from autonomous robots.

In many aspects, the relationship between AI and LiDAR is growing, thanks to advancements in computer processing capacity and more resources being allocated to AI potential. With LiDAR's widespread use in a variety of industries, we may expect innovation in a variety of areas, influencing how we interact with technology as we move closer to an AI-powered world.

How can GTS help you?

We at GTS provide data collection and annotation services. We are known for providing the most accurate and high quality dataset. Whether your project is a self-driving car or something else, our multimodal computer vision ML-assisted tools let you launch world-class AI. Our platform and services provide high precision and speed, allowing you to scale swiftly while knowing you have enormous amounts of high-quality, annotated data at your disposal.

Learn more about our platform or get in touch with us right away.

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