Google's self-driving cars, which use laser sensors and mapping technology, are examples of Level 3 cars, Mr. Friedman said.
TerraMax, a 12-ton Oshkosh military truck fitted with laser sensors and global positioning equipment, nearly plowed into a concrete pillar and was disqualified early in the race.
There is a second advantage to using lasers in preference to radar: while they have a similar range, laser sensors have a significantly wider field of vision.
Together, the camera and laser sensors monitor the white lines and, if the car strays out of its lane, an electronic control unit attached to an electric power-steering unit corrects it.
Building on Volvo Car Corporation's and Volvo Technology's already existing safety systems - including features such as cameras, radar and laser sensors - the vehicles monitor the lead vehicle and also other vehicles in their immediate vicinity.
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One of the laser sensors may find its way onto a craft vying for Google's X Prize, with the results used to determine where vessels can touch down whilst keeping a safe distance from Apollo landing sites.
ENGADGET: NASA accidentally improves weather forecasting with lunar dust-measuring lasers
The Stanford university team, which won DARPA's last 132-mile robotic race through the Mojave Desert event in 2005, has outfitted its more chic Volkswagon Passat with eight laser sensors and two of Intel's quad-core blade servers, dwarfing the Cybervan's processing power.
The Stanford university team, which won DARPA's last 132-mile robotic race through the Mojave Desert event in 2005, has outfitted its more chic Volkswagon Passat with eight laser sensors and two of Intel's (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) quad-core blade servers, dwarfing the Cybervan's processing power.
Some luxury cars already contain adaptive cruise control, which uses radar or laser-based sensors to track the movements of vehicles on the road ahead.
Homeland security sales currently account for 48% of revenue, while medical imaging and monitoring bring in 24%, and other applications like photo sensors for industry and laser systems for the military account for 28% of business.
Bristling with sensors, antennas, a laser and a robotic arm, the Curiosity robot, about the size of a small SUV, is twice the length and four times the weight of any of the three prior rovers that explored Mars.
Sensors include visible spectrum cameras, 3D laser scanners and a spectrometer analysis (just to name a few) that creates an accurate analysis of waste which has not been possible with mechanical technology or human labor before.
Both surface materials have excellent characteristics for high-precision sensors like those found in Corsair's laser gaming mice.
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