A Simple Laser Toy Can Make a Self-Driving Car Completely Blind

Based on the collected data, the vehicle can act accordingly, such as engaging the emergency brakes when a pedestrian is discovered.Such a system relies on laser light itself, using reflections received from the detected objects to determine the distance, eventually being able to determine the proper reaction. Researchers, however, discovered that pointing a laser light directly at the LiDAR camera makes it prioritize the fake light instead of the reflections received when the vehicle is in motion.As such, the LiDAR system ignores data related to obstacles and pedestrians, therefore failing to take proper action. Vehicles no longer activated the brakes even when pedestrians were detected in front of the cars, eventually causing an increased risk of collision. Researchers used a simulated attack from a real person standing just a few meters away from the car and pointing the laser light at the LiDAR system. But with a more complex system, such as camera-tracking technology and more powerful lasers, a self-driving vehicle could be turned blind for several seconds, especially as an automated implementation would point the laser precisely at the right spot.