Sensor Arrangements For Autonomous Vehicles

I regularly post pictures of autonomous test vehicles, which I keep encountering on the streets of Silicon Valley. After all there are already 62 companies with a California license testing with several hundred vehicles. 

What is interesting to observe is how each company is arranging the sensors, and how they develop over time.

The blog Autonomous Driving published an article which explains in more detail what the different pros and cons of those arrangements with today’s sensors are. With several graphic depictions the covered areas and the dead spots around the vehicle are clearly displayed. Also which objects can be covered. It’s of no surprise that the more sensors you arrange around the car, the larger the covered area is. But this brings the disadvantage of higher costs (those sensors are still very expensive) and an increased amount of data to be handled.

Here is the link to detailed and highly recommended article.

This article was also published in German.