New laser technology helps driverless cars “see” around corners

SAN FRANCISCO, March 8 (Xinhua) — Scientists from Stanford University have
developed new laser-based imaging technology that would allow autonomous
cars to “see” objects hidden around corners and react in advance.

The new technology, known as non-line-of-sight imaging, depends on
analyzing scattered light particles that are ignored by guidance systems
currently used in cars such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
systems.The existing LIDAR systems measure distance to a target by sending
laser pulses towards the object and calculate the time it takes for light
to be reflected. The data is then used to build a three-dimensional model
of the object.However, non-line-of-sight imaging takes the idea further. It
collects multiple scattered light rather than the light that bounced
directly back off an object to reconstruct the shape of hidden objects.The
researchers shoot pulses of laser light at a wall and, invisible to the
human eye, those pulses bounce off objects around the corner and bounce
back to the wall and to the detector, according to the study published
Monday in the journal Nature.”It is a very simple tweak to how you do
imaging, but it has major implications in terms of how you can reconstruct
the images from that information,” Matthew O’Toole, co-lead author of the
study, told the Guardian.”It sounds like magic but the idea of
non-line-of-sight imaging is actually feasible,” said Gordon Wetzstein,
assistant professor of electrical engineering and senior author of the
paper, in a press release published on the website of Stanford University.

The researchers tested their technique successfully outside but they worked
only with indirect light.If the technology were placed on a car today, that
car could easily detect things like road signs, safety vests or road
markers, although it might struggle with a person wearing non-reflective
clothing, they noted in the release.”This is a big step forward for our
field that will hopefully benefit all of us,” said Wetzstein. “In the
future, we want to make it even more practical in the ‘wild.’  Besides its
application on autonomous vehicles, other uses of the technology could
include seeing through foliage from aerial vehicles or giving rescue teams
the ability to find people blocked from view by walls and rubble.