Optical Sensors Are Not Sufficient
Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) or fully autonomous vehicles rely on three main sensor technologies: camera, lidar and traditional radar. Cameras give rich textual information about the surroundings, but no accurate structural and velocity estimation. Lidars provide a good structural estimation of the environment but do not provide doppler measurement and are very expensive. Both camera and lidar fail in dusty environments as well as bad weather conditions, such as rain or fog.