As our cars learn to drive, the only proof they?re learning is intangible. Algorithms, sensors, 3D maps, V2V, the cloud?they?re digital, mostly proprietary components that can?t be independently tested. But there?s a physical part that promises to make autonomous travel safer, plus it?s all sparkly and pretty. It?s called paint.
Engineers at PPG know that paint isn?t a priority among the engineers tasked with self-driving cars. But it should be. ?If we don?t solve problems 21, 22, and 23, they eventually become one, two, and three,? Tim Knavish, PPG?s senior vice president for automotive coatings, told Car and Driver.
Perhaps we can blame Henry Ford?s appreciation for cheap black paint. As it stands today, blacks and grays are among the most popular colors year after year, but beneath that customer preference lies trouble. Darker colors absorb more infrared light than lighter colors, which poses a specific and debilitating problem for laser-based object sensors: They can?t see them as well. When firing lidar in the near-infrared spectrum (700 to 1100 nanometers) used by automotive sensors, black cars reduced the reflected signals by half versus a comparable white car, according to PPG.
Plastic and composite parts, such as bumpers, also don?t reflect radar as well as steel and aluminum. That doesn?t mean a black carbon-fiber BMW i8 is impervious to traffic tickets (ask us how we know), but for car-mounted radar and lidar sensors scanning the road, it has more potential to...