VTT 's robot car now sees through fog

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland says it is one step closer to creating a safe automated vehicle through upgrades made to its Marilyn robot car. The vehicle can now see through foggy and snowy conditions, navigating without stopping. Additionally, VTT says, the car can see humans through fog and avoid accidents automatically. Marilyn now has light imaging, detection, and ranging (Lidar) mounted on its roof, which the company claims enables it to see wavelengths beyond the human senses.
May 15, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland says it is one step closer to creating a safe automated vehicle through upgrades made to its Marilyn robot car. The vehicle can now see through foggy and snowy conditions, navigating without stopping.


Additionally, VTT says, the car can see humans through fog and avoid accidents automatically.

Marilyn now has light imaging, detection, and ranging (Lidar) mounted on its roof, which the company claims enables it to see wavelengths beyond the human senses.

Matti Kutila, VTT’s project manager, says: "Although Marilyn's vision is limited to roughly 30m in thick fog, the new Lidar type allows the car to be driven slowly rather than having to fully stop.”

The car now features optical component wavelengths via the 1550 nanometre Lidar and has additional intelligence for its software design to improve sensor capabilities. Software modules have been built in for the filtering of point clouds and the assessment of scanner reliability.

However, Marilyn's automotive radars and Lidar's detection of non-metallic obstacles and resolution is limited, particularly when trying to recognise shapes.

Related Content

  • June 17, 2019
    Here’s HD AV map prepared for 5G
    The emergence of 5G may not be necessary to provide a high-definition map for autonomous driving, says Matt Preyss from Here Technologies. Ben Spencer asks why 5G is a hot topic worldwide, with the potential for faster transfer of information eagerly awaited by those convinced that it will be a game-changer for the ITS industry. High-definition (HD) maps are essential to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) to understand their environment, and operate safely within it in relation to other road users and p
    Read More
  • February 3, 2012
    Plate matching technology more accurate than conventional OCR
    EngiNe srl's patented Plate Matching technique is something of a paradox, in that it achieves formal vehicle identification without recognising, in the accepted sense, the characters on its number plate. Here, Angelo Dionisi of ENG Group explains how it works
    Read More
  • January 15, 2013
    Introducing Hitachi’s HD optical zoom camera
    Hitachi’s DI-SC120R camera includes a new feature, defog, that the camera processes in real time. Images are resolved for highly magnified stable images in foggy conditions such as urban surveillance, traffic monitoring and pole mounted applications. The camera measures each pixel for fog thickness and applies contrast to the image to offer a uniform image. The camera’s one-third inch CCD sensor provides a full resolution of 1280x720. Hitachi has combined its proprietary Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to a
    Read More
  • March 3, 2020
    Cognitive boss on AV safety: ‘It’s about human life, not just big money’
    Olga Uskova, founder and president of Russia-based Cognitive Technologies, puts herself in the hotseat with ITS International to answer questions about advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), dominating the global market – and, of course, The Beatles…
    Read More

Highlighted Content