SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 12, 2021 – Hitachi Astemo Americas, Inc., and Light, a leading provider of depth perception for vehicles, have begun “proof of concept” development of a forward-facing perception system for use with advanced driver assistance systems.
The two companies will begin to field test the new multi-view, camera-based sensing technology later this month. Light’s Clarity™ systems have better range, detail and accuracy at distance than existing sensor solutions and integrate seamlessly into Hitachi Astemo’s advanced vehicle assistance systems (ADAS) to work directly with other ADAS and ECU (engine control unit) applications.
“We’re always excited to work on innovative solutions to improve vehicle safety,” said John Nunneley, senior vice president, Design Engineering, Hitachi Astemo Americas, Inc. “Building upon our decades of experience and together with Light, we are looking to create the next generation of leading ADAS and autonomous driving solutions.”
Clarity is an industry-first multi-view perception platform using cameras and designed to see any 3D structures in the road from 10 centimeters to 1,000 meters away – three times the range and 20x the detail of the best-in-class LiDAR.
Clarity outperforms existing sensing solutions by seamlessly combining visual information from cameras with measured depth so that longer distances and greater detail can be measured rather than only inferred by machine learning. Benefits include safer automatic emergency braking, evasive steering control for a wider variety of objects, adaptive suspension adjustment for road hazards such as potholes, and smoother adaptive cruise-control and lane-keeping systems.
“Light’s Clarity platform enables machines to see better than humans,” said Dave Grannan, Light’s co-founder and CEO. “It sees farther, and with greater detail, than other solutions available on the market. Aligning on this project with Hitachi Astemo, a company that is constantly seeking to improve and advance their technology, is an outstanding opportunity to prove the capabilities of the range and detail of the Clarity platform.”
