FLIR Systems, Inc. has announced the availability of a high-resolution Thermal Vision Automotive Development Kit (ADK) featuring the high-performance FLIR Boson thermal camera for automakers, tier-one automotive parts suppliers, and innovators of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The new FLIR ADK allows developers to add an affordable, long-range thermal camera to their ADAS development vehicles to help advance reliability and redundancy required for self-driving cars.
As the auto industry's only automotive-qualified passive infrared sensor currently in production, FLIR sensors are offered today on numerous vehicles from General Motors, Peugeot, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW, and as an aftermarket system. An ideal sensor technology for pedestrian and animal detection, thermal sensors can see up to four times the distance of typical headlights. Thermal imaging helps drivers and future self-driving vehicles see in challenging environments such as darkness, sun glare, fog, smoke, and haze. Given this differentiated sensing capability and intense market focus, ABI Research expects annual shipments of night vision systems, including thermal imaging sensors, to grow from 200,000 in 2017 to 4.2 million in 20211.
The FLIR ADK features the high-resolution FLIR Boson, which is equipped with an Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit, a sophisticated, low-power multi-core vision processor that fits within a compact footprint package ideal for automobiles. The ADK is also compatible with the NVIDIA DRIVEautonomous vehicle computing platform.
"FLIR thermal imaging sensors have played a critical role in enhancing driver safety for more than a decade, and using them for advanced driver assistance systems in self-driving cars is a natural evolution," said James Cannon, President and CEO of FLIR. "With our latest high-resolution automotive development kit, automakers can develop and integrate thermal imaging technology in self-driving cars easier, faster, and with low cost of ownership."
