The Night Camera and Its Critical Role in Every Sensor Suite

For ADAS and autonomous vehicles to truly become an everyday part of our lives and operate freely on the road, automotive manufacturers must be able to guarantee that they are safe and can operate in all weather and lighting conditions - day, night, rain, fog, and snow. In these low visibility conditions, we must be able to rely on the vehicle to still be able to see clearly and identify VRUs such as pedestrians, cyclists, animals, small objects, and fallen cargo. This is a mission-critical requirement. 

Autonomous vehicles can already be spotted in places with clear and sunny skies throughout most of the year, providing good visibility and detection. But what happens when ADAS/AV visibility is impaired due to darkness or adverse weather conditions? They become nonfunctional when they are needed most.

Business continuity means continuous, 24/7 visibility. This is only possible with a GatedVision camera.

Powered by patented GatedVision Technology, VISDOM is a night and all-weather camera synced with a NIR illuminator. The illuminator emits short pulses of light, and the camera opens its shutters to collect only the light reflected back from a predefined distance. In this way, the camera only collects the light reflected by the road and other objects within a narrow range or slice. This action is repeated several times at slightly different ranges, and each separate slice is combined with the others to form a complete picture of the surrounding scene.

Independent tests led by Mercedes Benz evaluated the performance of various available optical sensing technologies, including visual cameras, thermal imagers, and LiDARs, under adverse weather conditions. They concluded that the GatedVision sensor is the only one that could see all tested targets.

When combined with the standard visible camera already in every sensor suite, GatedVision enables complete visibility day and night, year-round. 

Learn more about why current sensors and technologies are unable to solve the night and weather challenge, and how GatedVision works to provide clarity in all low visibility conditions.

Click here to download the new white paper.