Safe Autonomous Driving in Adverse Weather: Sensor Evaluation and Performance Monitoring

The vehicle's perception sensors radar, lidar and camera, which must work continuously and without restriction, especially with regard to automated/autonomous driving, can lose performance due to unfavourable weather conditions. This paper analyzes the sensor signals of these three sensor technologies under rain and fog as well as day and night. A data set of a driving test vehicle as an object target under different weather conditions was recorded in a controlled environment with adjustable, defined, and reproducible weather conditions. Based on the sensor performance evaluation, a method has been developed to detect sensor degradation, including determining the affected data areas and estimating how severe they are. Through this sensor monitoring, measures can be taken in subsequent algorithms to reduce the influences or to take them into account in safety and assistance systems to avoid malfunctions.