Volvo's Self Driving Cars Can Now See Surroundings in 3-D with Luminar

Sweden’s Volvo Cars are set to implement the Luminar’s latest laser lidar sensors – technology used by self-driving cars to see their surroundings in 3-D. The 23-year-old founder of Luminar, Austin Russell, is said to assist the Volvo group with the hardware, lidar sensors, and cameras, and new perception software that helps the AI in Volvo vehicles interpret and process the abundant amount of sensor data flowing in.

“This is a partnership with Volvo Cars to power their autonomous vehicle development effort with our lidar sensing platform at its core,” Russell said.  “We’re really the first to be able to achieve the necessary performance and safety requirements to get to that better-than-human level perception and ultimately safer-than-human autonomous capability,” he added.

Lidar’s ability to generate detailed and ghostly 3-D images in all lighting conditions, working in sync with the cameras and radars, gives robot vehicles an awareness of the surroundings and road conditions. Many companies with their major projects in building autonomous cars consider Lidar a bit pricey but a vital part of the complete vision system. Also to immediately and accurately process the data received is an unavoidable need because failing to do so once proved fatal – the Uber crash in Arizona.

The Volvo Cars Tech Fund CEO, Zaki Fasihuddin, speaking of Luminar said in a statement, “Luminar…provides us with strategic access to new technologies, capabilities, and talent. Supporting promising young firms…..will help us introduce cutting-edge technology that strengthens our leading role in the industry.”