Autonomous cars unsafe without lidar says German car supplier

ZF chief executive believes autonomous cars will need infrared lidar technology to be safe

Self-driving cars will need multiple detection systems including expensive infrared lidar technology if they are to be safe at high speeds, according to the chief executive of German car supplier ZF Friedrichshafen.

The comments from Stefan Sommer come a week after news that a 2015 Tesla Model S crashed into a trailer while on Autopilot mode. In a statement Tesla has said the car's cameras failed to identify the white trailer against a bright sky. 

While Sommer said he could not comment on the Tesla accident he stated that cameras relying on visual signals alone were insufficient for safe autonomous driving at high speed. 

He said: "For autonomous driving, we will need three core technologies: picture processing camera technology, short and long-range radar and lidar.”

Laser or infrared-based lidar technology helps vehicle sensors pick up contours and contrasts of obstacles which normal cameras are unable to detect, particularly in low light situations.

"Lidar technology is currently expensive, with prices typically starting at several thousand dollars - too expensive to be incorporated in mass production vehicles, but investments into the technology will bring economies of scale will likely lower the costs to a manageable level," Sommer said.

The Tesla crash has put fresh scrutiny on emerging autonomous technology, but was the first in just over 130 million miles where the autopilot was activated. Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles. Worldwide, there is a fatality approximately every 60 million miles.

Commenting on the crash, Russ Rader, from the non-profit US safety organisation the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), said: “This is a cautionary signal that fully autonomous vehicles are not going to be ready for prime time for a long time. There are a lot of technical hurdles.”