Scan sensors on the exterior surfaces of a vehicle
AssigneeLuminar Technologies, Inc.
InventorJason M. Eichenholz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle includes a body with multiple interior and exterior surfaces and a lidar system including a set of one or more sensor units. Each sensor unit includes a light source configured to emit light, a scanner configured to direct the emitted light to scan a field of regard of the sensor unit according to a scan pattern, a receiver configured to detect the light scattered by one or more remote targets, and a housing enclosing the light source, the scanner, and the receiver. The housing of each sensor unit is embedded in one of the interior or exterior surfaces, so that a first portion of the housing projects out of the body and a second portion of the housing is inside the body.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- a body including a plurality of interior and exterior surfaces;
- a lidar sensor unit including:
- a light source configured to emit light,
- a scanner configured to direct the emitted light to scan a field of regard of the sensor unit according to a scan pattern,
- a receiver configured to detect the light scattered by one or more remote targets, and
- a housing enclosing the light source, the scanner, and the receiver;
- wherein the housing of each sensor unit is embedded in one of the plurality of interior or exterior surfaces so that a first portion of the housing projects out of the body and a second portion of the housing is inside the body.
A lidar system configured to operate in a vehicle that has a vehicle body with a plurality of interior and exterior surfaces, the lidar system comprising:
- a laser configured to be disposed inside the vehicle;
- a plurality of sensor units configured to be embedded in the interior and/or exterior surfaces of the vehicle body;
- and
- a plurality of laser-sensor links via which the laser provides light to each of the plurality of sensor units;
- wherein each of the sensor units includes:
- a scanner configured to direct the light from the laser to scan a field of regard of the sensor unit according to a scan pattern,
- a receiver configured to detect the light scattered by one or more remote targets, and
- a housing enclosing the scanner and the receiver, the housing including a first portion configured to project out of the vehicle body and a second portion configured to reside inside the vehicle body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.