Detecting a pedestrian at night

The Aurora Driver recognizes a pedestrian on the highway shoulder over 300 meters away at night, before they would have been visible to the naked eye.

In this video, the Aurora Driver is driving at night and detects a person on the shoulder of the road over 300 meters away. As shown in the camera view, it’s difficult to perceive much at night, but FirstLight Lidar detects the pedestrian with confidence. The Aurora Driver proactively changes lanes to create a safe amount of buffer room while passing.

Additional info:  Aurora’s proprietary long-range FirstLight Lidar allows the Aurora Driver to potentially see over 400 meters ahead at highway speeds. This sensing modality is what unlocks safe highway driving and enables reliable perception even when environmental conditions limit visibility.  

Further reading: Capability spotlight: Prioritizing pedestrian safety