Thermal Imaging Cameras Could Keep Self-Driving Cars Safe

After Uber’s fatal self-driving crash last month in Tempe, Arizona, most observers had two basic question: Why did the car not see Elaine Herzberg crossing the street and stop before hitting her? And how can we stop this happening again, to someone else?

The ride-hailing company has indefinitely suspended its testing program, and is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the crash. The NTSB hasn’t revealed any findings yet, but the lidar—the laser-shooting sensor that should have spotted Herzberg, even in the dark—is an obvious focus. Maybe it had a blind spot, or lacked the resolution to identify Herzberg as a pedestrian. Maybe the car’s software failed to translate those data points into a decision to slam on the brakes or swerve around her.

Whatever happened, the crash makes a life-and-death argument for anything that could make self-driving systems safer. Which is why a company called Flir has spotted a new market opportunity: equipping self-driving cars with heat-seeking cameras.

“Thermal cameras are really good at seeing the things you most don’t want to hit,” says Mike Walters, the head of product for the Oregon-based company. “Humans, of course.” Where conventional cameras look at visible light, Flir’s sensor focuses on the infrared bit of the spectrum. It can detect tiny differences in temperature—as little as 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit—so something like the cold metal of a bicycle stands out, even on a chilly night. It can do it from up to 240 meters away, a range that matches some of the most capable lidar sensors on the market. And, unlike lidar systems, these sensors don’t sweat fog or direct sunlight.

The temperature-sensitive sensors have popped up in all sorts of places: putting the heat-seeking in heat-seeking missiles, detecting corroded fuses in electronics, spotting people in burning buildings. Flir’s not the only company working to make thermal imaging cameras more robust. “We made it to have the durability of automotive, the battery consumption so I can clip it onto a phone, the shock resistance calibration so it can go on a gun scope, the heat so it can deal with things like fire,” says Tim LeBeau, who oversees corporate strategy for Seek Thermal, a Santa Barbara-based Flir competitor. So putting the things in cars, even with their bumpy outdoor lifestyle, doesn’t seem too tough.