High-performance lidar solutions business AEye has revealed 4Sight+, the latest addition to its 4Sight Intelligent Sensing product line that provides path-planning, obstacle avoidance and prediction capabilities for vehicles.
Through the use of its software-defined architecture, AEye has enhanced the sensor’s range by 20% and increased spatial resolution by 400%, extending the solution’s high-speed small obstacle detection capabilities while enabling the hardware to address hazardous vehicle cut-ins.
To enhance dependability, performance and adaptability, AEye has worked to develop several data fidelity and range upgrades within 4Sight+. These help OEMs to eliminate phantom braking, improve ADAS features and enable hands-free driving at highway speeds.
4Sight+ utilizes the platform’s modular, bistatic system, which can reconfigure lidar performance on the fly while adding new capabilities via over-the-air upgrades. Furthermore, the 4Sight Intelligent Sensing Platform is powered by a minuscule MEMS device that enables ultra-fast and robust movements. This is highly programable by design and meets performance requirements for urban and highway use.
Other improvements in 4Sight+ include better prediction capabilities when tracking vulnerable road users such as cyclists or pedestrians, at distances of up to 300m. Additionally, the solution can help to enhance vehicle ride quality and reaction time by detecting small objects – including bricks or tires – at up to 200m. 4Sight+ can also detect and identify road surfaces at up to 100m. These changes allow AEye to enable predictive safety systems and hands-free driving at more than 128km/h without driver intervention.
AEye’s scanning agility will enable OEMs to entirely reconfigure the lidar’s performance instantaneously, using cues from other sensors in the vehicle – such as speed or GPS location – to activate uniquely defined modes of operation for parking, urban and highway environments.
“These new capabilities were achieved entirely through firmware and software changes, using new algorithms and calibration techniques; this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we can do with software,” said Matt Fisch, chief executive officer at AEye. “AEye is laser-focused on continuous product improvement, and we will leverage our software-defined architecture to deliver on that, and to adapt quickly to a changing market.
“Auto makers are on a fast track to deliver intuitive, reliable ADAS services that improve safety. Our architecture allows us to match their timeline and brings OEMs and our partners, like Continental, one step closer to achieving their mission of Vision Zero – zero fatalities, injuries and accidents.”