Skip to main content

FLIR looks to expand into automobile market

In line with its maxim ‘infrared everywhere’, thermal imaging camera supplier FLIR expects to increase its sales within the automotive sector, particularly to companies like Audi, BMW and Rolls Royce, in order to boost manufacturing numbers and cut per unit production costs. The company has developed a new initiative with Mercedes Benz in which many of the car maker’s new S-Class vehicles will contain a FLIR thermal imager that will scan the road ahead, during the darkness of night, and alert when it sees h
April 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Lode Caenepeel
In line with its maxim ‘infrared everywhere’, thermal imaging camera supplier 6778 FLIR expects to increase its sales within the automotive sector, particularly to companies like 2125 Audi, 1731 BMW and Rolls Royce, in order to boost manufacturing numbers and cut per unit production costs.

The company has developed a new initiative with 1685 Mercedes Benz in which many of the car maker’s new S-Class vehicles will contain a FLIR thermal imager that will scan the road ahead, during the darkness of night, and alert when it sees humans or animals on or alongside the road, which could threaten the safety of the driver.

The sensitivity of the FLIR’s thermal sensor and the ability of the accompanying video analytics software to identify a pedestrian dangerously close to the roadway mean the FLIR device can dramatically enhance the motorist’s safety. The device also has a dynamic spotlight, which can instantly shine a movable beam of light onto the human or animal, thereby enabling the driver to see for himself the dangers ahead.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Daimler launches its ‘bus of the future’
    July 21, 2016
    Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Future Bus made its first autonomous trip on a public road recently, when it was driven at speeds of up to 70 km/h on a section of a bus rapid transit route in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The 20 kilometre route, which links Schiphol Airport with the town of Haarlem, provided a challenge for the bus, with its numerous bends, tunnels and traffic signals. Although a driver was on board for safety reasons, for the most part the bus met the challenge autonomously, stopping at bus sto
  • Arizona picks Teledyne Flir thermal cameras for wrong-way detection
    June 5, 2023
    New system also institutes countermeasures such as flashing warning signals
  • Videalert provides full time enforcement with part time workload
    March 19, 2014
    Videalert says its algorithms on automated enforcement can reduce the workload on staff while providing an effective deterrent to offenders. Colin Sowman reports. While members of the public may believe that the enforcement of parking regulations, bus lanes and box junctions has no practical benefit and is purely a money-making operation, for many authorities the opposite is true. Enforcement is a loss-making but vital exercise as illegally parked vehicles create obstructions and dangers leading to gridl
  • Bluetooth and Wi-Fi offer new options for travel time measurements
    November 20, 2013
    New trials show Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals can be reliably used for measuring travel times and at a lower cost than an ANPR system, but which is the better proposition depends on many factors. Measuring travel times has traditionally relied automatic number plate (or licence plate) recognition (ANPR/ALPR) cameras capturing the progress of vehicles travelling along a pre-defined route. Such systems also have the benefit of being able to count passing traffic and have become a vital tool in dealing with c