The Key To Advancing Autonomous Vehicle Safety

When a LiDAR system stops working on, for example, a robot vacuum, there’s no real danger. After all, the worst that can happen is that it gets stuck awkwardly in the middle of a room or under a table. However, on an autonomous car traveling at highway speeds, the risk to its occupants and other drivers is much more immediate. Currently, commercially available semi-autonomous cars rely on a human to step in and take control in an emergency, but to be classed as fully autonomous (also called Level 5 autonomy), a car must be able to operate without human supervision.

Researchers recently proposed that a redundant LiDAR system and ECU should be installed on Level 5 autonomous vehicles with the sole purpose of being able to bring the vehicle to a safe stop should the primary system fail. Having two systems on the car means that it’s extremely unlikely that both would fail at once, but it increases cost and complexity even further. There’s no one consensus on the best way to ensure passengers’ well-being if LiDAR systems fail for now, but there will need to be if people are to be convinced that autonomous vehicles are safe.