How Bugs Blind Cars

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Self driving cars seem to be the next big step in technological development. Soon enough it seems as though very few people will actually be driving their car. However before we get into our new autonomous vehicle and let the AI take us to wherever we need, there are still several challenges that autonomous vehicle manufacturers still have to work out. Among the “morality” issues the AI deals with and operating in bad weather, engineers have been working to deal with an issue that most of us wouldn’t have even considered: bugs. 

When insects explode on a car’s windshield, it usually isn’t something the wipers can’t fix. However when a bug crashes into the car’s LIDAR sensor, then the situation becomes more serious. When a self driving car’s LIDAR sensor is blurred the car will have a hard time obtaining critical information which may very likely lead to a crash.

To combat this problem, Ford and artificial intelligence developer, Argo AI, have teamed up and thought up of two solutions towards obscured autonomous vehicle sensors.

The first solution is a preventative one. Engineers installed high velocity air nozzles near the LIDAR sensor to create an “air shield” that blows insects away from the sensor. The air nozzles are always blowing wind, however that strength of the air shield blower changes accordingly to the car’s speed and the environmental conditions. The wind also cools down the sensors and other devices.

While the air shield is very effective, it still could miss an insect every now and again. The second solution towards the bug problem involves placing 16 spray nozzles around the LIDAR sensor that spray high pressure washer fluid onto the lens of the sensor. 

The sensor is capable of picking up what material is obstructing the view, whether it be dust, snow, or bug guts, and accordingly sprays the appropriate amount of pressure on the lens to clean it. Popularmechanics.com reports that the nozzles are individually controlled and use several pumps to control the spray of the fluid. 

Immediately after the nozzles spray the lens, a quick burst of high pressured air sprays the lens in order to dry it.

The only major drawback of the anti-bug systems is that they become less effective the faster you move. So it may be likely that your next autonomous car will have its speed limited not only due to road conditions, but also due to the amount of bugs in the area.