Magna Develops New Radar Technology

Magna has developed new radar technology called the Icon Radar which has the ability to continuously scan its surroundings in four dimensions (height, depth, speed and distance) to a distance of 300 meters. The radar incorporates advanced technology that is used by the United States military better detection, longer range.

Magna says its ‘Icon Radar’ can detect and track almost 100 times more objects when it is compared to products that currently exist. It can also individually classify these objects.

Magna has been collaborating closely with Uhnder on the engineering and product development for this radar technology to make it commercially viable by 2019. According to magna, the Icon Radar can go a long way towards closing the gap between level 3 and level 5 autonomous driving technology and take us closer to the reality of achieving fully autonomous driving.

The radar has the capability to detect objects and communicate with the vehicle to give a detailed idea of the relative location of static objects like guard rails, debris on the road and speed bumps, in addition to objects are moving like cyclists, other vehicles, pedestrians and pets.

The company said that it is vital to have the ability to distinguish between smaller “objects” like cyclists and children and larger, more detectable objects like parked vehicles and moving trucks in the vicinity to make automated driving as safe as possible and to enhance ADAS. It is this capability to continually feed the software systems with information in order to enhance vehicle intelligence and safety systems that distinguishes this system from other systems.

“Magna has identified some of the world’s most advanced technologies and ‘auto-qualified’ them for use in the auto industry,” said Swamy Kotagiri, Magna chief technology officer. “Our Icon Radar takes the best of military technology and improves on it for automotive use – taking a significant step forward toward full autonomy.”

The Icon Radar continuously monitors its surroundings 50 times faster than the time humans need to blink an eye and this speed is of great assistance when vehicles need to make quick decisions while responding to complex scenarios. The system has state-of-the art imaging capability in the form of 192 virtual receivers which are integrated into a single compact system. These virtual receivers can deliver both horizontal and vertical resolution, and have set new benchmark levels for each. The technology is also naturally immune to interference, and this will be a major concern when there are many other vehicles employing similar technology on the roads.

Due to its compact size, the new technology will also facilitate greater flexibility in exterior design that can be easily integrated into an automakers autonomous system or as part of Magna’s MAX4 autonomous vehicle platform.