Installation and use of vehicle light ranging system

A system for calibrating a light ranging system including a control unit and one or more light ranging devices, the system comprising:

• a calibration imaging device configured to scan a vehicle and the one or more light ranging devices installed on the vehicle to produce imaging data, each light ranging device including a laser source and a photosensor;
• and
• a processor communicably coupled with the calibration imaging device, wherein the processor is configured to:
• compute a primary model of an exterior of the vehicle based on the imaging data, the primary model including a coordinate frame;
• determine one or more model positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the primary model relative to the coordinate frame of the primary model, the one or more model positions corresponding to physical positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the exterior of the vehicle;
• and
• output the primary model of the exterior of the vehicle and the one or more model positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the primary model in a format usable by the control unit to determine distances between the exterior of the vehicle and one or more environmental surfaces using measurements from the one or more light ranging devices.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a processor, communicably coupled with a calibration imaging device, to perform a method for calibrating a light ranging system including a control unit and one or more light ranging devices, the method comprising:

• receiving imaging data obtained from the calibration imaging device configured to scan a vehicle and the one or more light ranging devices installed on the vehicle;
• computing a primary model of an exterior of the vehicle based on the imaging data, the primary model including a coordinate frame;
• determining one or more model positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the primary model relative to the coordinate frame of the primary model, the one or more model positions corresponding to physical positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the exterior of the vehicle;
• and
• outputting the primary model of the exterior of the vehicle and the one or more model positions of the one or more light ranging devices on the primary model in a format usable by the control unit to determine distances between the exterior of the vehicle and one or more environmental surfaces using measurements from the one or more light ranging devices.