MIT Researchers Help Self-Driving Cars See Beneath Snow-Covered Roads

Needless to say, the future of our automobiles is focusing on the advancements of not only eco-friendly fuels but also different self-driving technologies. Researchers from MIT recently found a way to make cars capable of “seeing” through the ground under the surface of the road. If successful, the upcoming self-driving cars will be able to give exact predictions about the road conditions, especially when the car is under the grip of bad weather like snow or heavy fog without visible road markings.

These days, most self-driving cars are taking advantage of cameras and light detection sensors (dubbed as LIDAR) whenever being on a roadway. However, once the lane markers are covered up by snow, it’s something very confusing for such self-driving cars to know where it is. Without a doubt, this is likely to result in serious accidents when the car travels at highway speeds.

To address the mentioned issue, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab of MIT has invented a brand-new system called LGPR – Localizing Ground Penetrating Radar. The system, in a word, builds up a real-time map of the ground beneath the surface of roads.

As it turns out, there’s no camera or laser inside the system but LGPR can calculate the quantities of specific elements under the road while comparing that to an existing map it has created in advance.

As showed in a recent video, the team has introduced how the LGPR system works on a snow-covered road. Let's take a look at this cutting-edge "navigation" system.

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