Sunlight processing for autonomous vehicle control

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus related to sensor data processing for a vehicle to improve operation when sunlight or other bright light enters a sensor of the vehicle. In one approach, adjustable filtering is configured for a sensor of a vehicle. In one example, an optical filter is positioned on the path of light that reaches an image sensor of a camera. For example, the filtering improves ability to stay in adaptive cruise control when driving into direct sunlight at sunset. The optical filters can have controllable properties such as polarization. In one example, a controller of the vehicle is configured to automatically adjust the properties of the optical filter to improve image quality to improve object recognition. In another example, a camera is configured with composite vision that uses sensors in different radiation spectrums (e.g., visible light, and infrared light). The composite vision can provide enhanced vision capability for an autonomous vehicle that is driving in the direction of the sun.