How do self-driving cars “see”? - Sajan Saini
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It’s late, pitch dark and a self-driving car winds down a narrow country road. Suddenly, three hazards appear at the same time. With no human at the wheel, the car uses smart eyes, sensors that’ll resolve these details all in a split-second. How is this possible? Sajan Saini explains how LIDAR and integrated photonics technology make self-driving cars a reality.
The wave interference effect can be demonstrated by dropping two pebbles in a pond, to reveal fixed directions along which spreading water ripples add up or cancel out. Can this phenomena help explain the unique ability to steer a laser light beam, using a fixed bank of modulator arms? Recall each arm slows a wave of light by a small amount, and thereby creates a tiny time lag for when it exits from an integrated photonics chip—and spreads out, or diverges—into air.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Sajan Saini
- Director Igor Coric
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Animator Nemanja Petrovic
- Producer Milica Lapcevic
- Sound Designer Nemanja Petrovic
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
- Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
- Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez
