Article about sensors needed in autonomous cars from the Autosens Brussels 2020 virtual conference. One of the panellists was Patrick Denny from Valeo.
It talks about the number of sensors in a car and the need for low power consumption. Some relevant bits are:
How many sensors do we have in cars today, and how many do we need to progress to further levels of autonomy? “If we take into account sensors for ADAS — ultrasonic, radar, camera for sensing, camera for viewing, and LiDAR — we estimate that a vehicle has between 10 and 20 sensors, depending on the type of vehicle,” Yole’s Boulay told EE Times. Naturally, high-end vehicles embed more sensors than low-end vehicles or those in the middle of the performance and feature range.
Sensors will be pivotal for unlocking high automation levels, and the number and type of sensors are expected to increase. “We expect that 35 to 40 sensors will be implemented for these automation levels,” said Boulay. “Sensors will be more specific in that we will see sensors for short-, mid-, and long-range applications. One sensor will not be able to cover all applications. Each application or use case will have its specifications and requirements in terms of sensors.”
The increasing number of sensors is only the tip of the iceberg. Sensors generate a ton of data, and systems are heavily limited by the processing power. Moving forward, having enough computing power to process all the data generated by these sensors will be a key feature, said Boulay
The power consumption of sensors is also a key challenge, said Volvo’s Matha. “Each sensor consumes between 1 and 10 W. If you add all sensors for ADAS functionalities, you can reach 100 or 200 W, and up to 4 g of CO2. We have to reduce the power consumption. [For example], perhaps the functionality of the sensor will not be active all the time.”https://www.eetasia.com/key-considerations-when-implementing-sensors-in-vehicles/These comments are a reminder on how large the automotive market alone will become for chips like Akida (potentially up to 40 chips per car). Companies will require sensor fusion to ensure safety in all weather conditions, but will require as low power consumption as possible at the same time.
It's just a matter of time till people realise Brainchip is more than just an AI technology hype.
Pure speculation, DYOR
(20min delay)