Powerful “eyes” for autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been created by Sydney start-up Baraja.
The company’s spectrum-scan Lidar (light detection and ranging) uses prism-like optics and shifting wavelengths of light to create the “eyes” which it says solves previous scalability, reliability, and performance issues.
Traditional Lidar scans the roadway by physically rotating lasers or using moving mirrors to steer the light using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). These moving parts have unresolved reliability problems in vehicles due to constant vibration and shock. Delicate components fail or require costly over-engineering to house and protect, Manufacturers’ Monthly reports.
Such legacy scanning methods inject cost, reliability and performance issues, and contribute to the unwieldy appearance and vehicle integration difficulties of existing Lidar solutions. “These limitations have become a serious bottleneck to the mass deployment of self-driving cars.”
Baraja’s compact, modular “eyes” connect via fibre optics and deliver the high-level of performance demanded by the AV industry using off-the-shelf components—like optical-grade silica-glass found in every smartphone camera and telecom-grade lasers that power the internet. These components maximise automotive reliability and the ability to mass produce the technology for fleets while enabling long-term cost benefits.
Cibby Pulikkaseril.
Baraja borrows its Lidar technology from the telecom industry, the company’s co-founder and chief technical officer Cibby Pulikkaseril told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
Pulikkaseril and Baraja chief executive officer and co-founder Federico Collarte met while developing multicolour lasers at an optics company in Sydney.
In late 2016, the company gained a A$1 million grant from the federal government’s Entrepreneurs Programme to help develop the 3D “laser eyes” and rented labs at CSIRO Lindfield, where they put together a team to make some prototypes.
Pulikkaseril says the technology is ground-breaking for AVs. “The laser we are using comes from the telecom industry. No-one had ever used it for Lidar. Every time I go to San Francisco, nobody in the US can believe that the winning strategy could actually come from Australia,” Pulikkaseril says.
“We have now successfully made a product that the customers are very excited about and they want to integrate it into their cars.
“We expect that within five years we will see cars on the street that have our Lidar.”
