At this year’s CES, the Israeli startup Mobileye - now an Intel company - presented its latest advances in the field of autonomous vehicles and announced upcoming testing in several major global cities.

Technological highlights include a new system of remote sensing by laser (Lidar) for improved road mapping to enhance the safety of autonomous driving. It could be on the market by 2025.

This new Lidar (Light detection and ranging) system promises to boost capability to automatically map, in great detail, the environment in which the car is driving, within a field of action of almost 200 meters. Its powerful algorithms allow the system to detect the presence and movements of other vehicles (cars, as well as trucks, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, etc), not to mention pedestrians or animals that could suddenly appear on the road at any time.

Concretely, thanks to this technology, a vehicle can drive autonomously while ensuring a good command of its environment. This new technology will soon be tested in real world conditions in four major global cities: Detroit, Tokyo, Shanghai and Paris.

Today, Mobileye technology is used in hundreds of vehicle models from manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen. Vehicles using the firm’s existing technology have already mapped the equivalent of almost a billion kilometers globally.

In the future, Mobileye hopes to become a major player in the field of robotaxis in big cities across the US and Asia.

 - AFP Relaxnews