Baraja sensor-mounted vehicle Image: Supplied
Australian startup Baraja is giving car manufacturers an alternative to the 13kg drum Uber is using for driverless vehicle mapping, launching its Light Detection and Ranging-based solution to help progress driverless vehicles.
The product, Spectrum-Scan, uses shifting wavelengths of light to create "eyes" for autonomous vehicles. CEO and co-founder Federico Collarte told ZDNet the lidar solution solves the scalability, reliability, and performance issues that have "challenged automakers, rideshares, and the tech behemoths as they race toward a fully-autonomous future".
At this point, it doesn't matter what type of vehicle the sensors are mounted to, as Collarte said "today you don't buy self-driving cars, you buy cars and you give them self-driving capabilities".
Up to four sensor heads are connected via fibre optic cable to a central processor.
The "eyes" can be exposed to the elements, while the "brain" is well-protected, Collarte added.
"These eyes contain basically pieces of glass, prism-like optics, lenses, etc -- they're almost completely passive meaning they don't have any active electronics," he explained. "That allows them to be mounted in positions that other LiDARs wouldn't be able to."
Currently an after-market fit, Collarte said Baraja is working with vehicle manufacturers that are keen to integrate the sensors into the build of future vehicles.
The sensors scan both vertically and horizontally giving a composite 360 degree view of the car's surrounds -- in real-time. The information is gathered and displayed in the Point Cloud.
Baraja Point Cloud render Image: Supplied
"Every pixel is a position where we've shot our laser to ... accurately determine the distance to the object," Collarte continued.
The Point Cloud also shows intensity of