Semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (ST) has partnered with Israeli-based start-up AdaSky to develop high-resolution vision systems for autonomous vehicles.

Under the collaboration, AdaSky’s FIR thermal camera embeds custom silicon co-designed with and manufactured by ST, in its 28nm FD-SOI manufacturing technology to develop a complete sensing solution called Viper.

With the new solution, autonomous vehicles will be able to see and perceive the surrounding roads under any condition.

AdaSky Hardware vice-president Amotz Kats said: “With the help of ST, we have created the first high-resolution thermal camera for autonomous vehicles with minimal size, weight, and power consumption – and no moving parts.

“ST’s access to, and expertise in, ultra-low-power design IP that is fully qualified for automotive applications and 28nm FD-SOI technology have been vital to meeting the severe power constraints that would challenge our sensors’ performance.”

The safe operations of the autonomous cars are subject to complete sight and perception of the roadway, other vehicles and roadside obstacles and associated infrastructure.

“With the help of ST, we have created the first high-resolution thermal camera for autonomous vehicles with minimal size, weight, and power consumption – and no moving parts.”

These vehicles depend on various sensors to obtain complete information.

The partnership aims to reduce the gap to provide accurate sight and perception in different lighting conditions by using Viper in a fusion solution.

The new camera is equipped with a FIR micro-bolometer sensor to detect an object’s temperature.

In an ADAS solution, Viper uses definite algorithms based on convolutional neural networks to classify the obstacles and notify the driver about them in the cockpit display.

It can also issue a warning several seconds earlier than a conventional sensor or human eye.

The prototypes are currently under evaluation and production is expected to commence in 2020.