Trials of automotive radar and lidar performance in road spray

The European Prometheus project had as two of its aims the development and evaluation of vehicle radar and lidar sensors as sources of control signals for: autonomous intelligent cruise control; and collision avoidance. The trial described arose from realisation in the European automotive industry that in designing mm wave and infra-red range-measuring sensors for use in such systems, there was a lack of experimental data about any degradation of their performance caused by road spray. This spray arises principally from other road vehicles in front of the sensor-fitted vehicle and could thus affect the detection of such vehicles and other objects. Accordingly, a joint European experiment was framed under the Prometheus programme to acquire quantitative data under controlled conditions with stationary and mobile radars and lidars.