Most pedestrian and other vulnerable road user (VRU) fatalities occur under poor visibility conditions, such as during evening or nighttime hours or in bad weather. Just like human perception, vehicle sensors are challenged by these conditions and often struggle with darkness, fog, and glare from oncoming traffic.
Thermal sensing provides a breakthrough because it operates equally well day and night and does not depend on visible light. This makes it an ideal technology for night-vision and pedestrian-detection systems. Umicore designs and manufactures GASIR® and germanium optics used in thermal (long-wave infrared) sensing systems.
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