Autonomous Vehicles Get Specific Attention In Paints & Coatings From PPG

Autonomous vehicle sensor coatings – PPG is pioneering the development of paints and related coatings that will improve vehicle and infrastructure visibility to radar and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors used in autonomous driving systems. Autonomous system signals bounce off this under layer coatings and return to the sensor instead of getting absorbed. This coating leverages commercially proven technology from PPG’s aerospace business that functions in the same light and heat-reflective way. Image Credit: PPG

Autonomous Vehicles Get Specific Attention In Paints & Coatings From PPG

PPG (NYSE: PPG) today announced that Ranju Arya will become senior business director, mobility, effective immediately.

PPG has formed a new team to look exclusively at how innovations in paint and coatings can help autonomous and electric vehicles.

As cars change, so will the expectations and demands put on their coatings, said Ranju Arya, who will lead the new team as senior business director of mobility. Image Credit: PPG via BusinessWire

“The options and opportunities are limitless,” Arya told the Tribune-Review on Monday. “We just have to understand more about this space.”

Arya is based in Troy, Michigan, but his team will consist of employees from all over the world, including Pittsburgh. PPG announced the new team Monday.

PPG unveiled its work with self-driving and electric vehicles in January during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The company partnered with University of Michigan's Mcity, a proving ground for self-driving cars, and is testing paints that are more visible to LiDAR scanner and that are easy to clean to keep sensor and camera lenses free of debris. Arya said PPG is working on coatings that will help cars communicate and see one another and stay clean, both inside and out. For autonomous vehicles used in ride-sharing, that coatings could make sure screens and there interfaces inside the car stay smudge free from one user to the next.

“These are all things that coatings can play a part in,” Arya said.

LiDAR scanners, which reflect lasers off of surfaces to tell where objects are, have a hard time seeing some dark-painted objects, Arya said. PPG developed a dark paint that the LiDAR can see through so it reflects off of the coating below it. The easy-clean coatings change the way water and other substances stick and cling to surfaces.

For electric cars, PPG designed coatings that can store and transfer energy.

Arya said the new coatings are still being tested in-house and haven't made their ways onto public streets.
[ht: BusinessWire | Triblive-Aaron Aupperlee]

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: PPG, Ranju Arya, Mobility, Autonomous, Paints, Coatings, Store and Transfer, Energy, LiDAR, light detection and ranging, Mcity, University of Michigan, The EDJE