REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Light, the leader in advanced computational imaging, today announced the launch of its perception platform, Clarity. The Clarity platform is able to see any 3D structures in the road from 10 centimeters to 1000 meters away — three times the distance of the best-in-class lidar — using passive cameras. This type of range, an industry-first, allows machines to perceive depth further than ever before. Doing so adds a powerful capability to existing systems that augment the human driver, such as advanced emergency braking, as well as self-driving vehicles of the future that require sophisticated path planning. Clarity equips these systems with the near and long-range depth information required to make proactive, rather than reactive, decisions as their environment changes. Seeing further can lead to not just safer but ultimately more efficient vehicles.
Beyond range, Clarity allows vehicles to see more in each moment. Clarity generates depth seamlessly fused with image detail across the entire camera field-of-view. This provides a vehicle with a dense, 3D view of its world — at 30 times a second. The Clarity platform is able to generate up to 95 million data points every second, 20 times greater than any perception system currently available. Its depth is also domain-independent, meaning Clarity does not need to be trained to recognize the specific objects it may encounter on the road in order to derive 3D structure. A comprehensive understanding of the surrounding environment based on signal processing allows machines to operate proactively and robustly, making rides safer and smoother than systems relying on inferencing alone.
The Clarity platform has been designed to accommodate a range of customer needs — function, cost, and design-related. It can be configured to optimize a number of driver-assist and autonomous systems, including:
- Identifying and avoiding obstacles: Every ~30 milliseconds, the Clarity platform turbocharges adaptive suspension systems by providing incredible detail of any road surface near and far. And for distant obstacles in the road, it enables earlier collision avoidance behavior.
- Redefining vehicle-to-driver hand-off time: For every 100 meters of added perception, a vehicle gains an additional four seconds of time to slow down, change lanes, or alert the driver to take over.
- Sensing and measuring a parking spot: The Clarity platform can identify open parking spots over 100 meters away from the vehicle allowing a driver to save time, fuel, and frustration as they reach their destination.
- L4/L5 autonomous trucking: When installed in semi-trucks, Clarity will provide the range necessary for fuel-efficient route planning as well as bringing a fully-loaded Class-8 truck to a safe stop.
“Automakers have invested billions of dollars and decades of research to make safe, reliable ADAS [Advanced Driver Assistance Systems] and self-driving cars a reality. But so far, even the best perception systems on the market miss objects and obstructions in the road — some as big as a semi-truck,” said Dave Grannan, CEO of Light. “Any system that powers a vehicle needs to be equipped with comprehensive, measured depth alongside the type of visual information that cameras provide, in order to make smart decisions that make driving safer.”
“There is nothing else like the Clarity platform with its combination of depth range, accuracy, and density per second. It enables a new generation of vehicles that can be made safer, without having to compromise on cost, quality, or reliability,” said Prashant Velagaleti, Chief Product Officer of Light. “Rather than only minimizing the severity of a collision, having high fidelity depth allows any vehicle powered by Clarity to make decisions that can avoid accidents, keeping occupants safe as well as comfortable.”
Built to work alongside and improve the performance of other sensing modalities, such as lidar and radar, the Clarity platform uses off-the-shelf, auto-grade cameras sourced from existing automotive supply chains, keeping costs low. Customers benefit from the constant innovations in camera technology while Light’s algorithms can be easily updated to take advantage of new enhancements. All of which helps Clarity to see more and see further.
To learn more about the breakthrough Clarity platform, see a demo, and register for our upcoming webinar, visit light.co/clarity
About Light
Light is pioneering real-time 3D perception to redefine how vehicles see the world. By combining the company’s breakthroughs in computational imaging with multi-camera calibration and advanced machine learning, Light’s technology provides accurate depth at both near and far distances in real-time. Founded in 2013, Light is headquartered in Redwood City, CA. See more at https://light.co.
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