The Past, Present and Future of Automotive Radar for Active Safety and Autonomous Driving

Millimeter wave automotive radars are highly reliable in all-weather environments and are indispensable for autonomous vehicles. Our presentation begins with a review of the history of automotive radars for active safety functionalities. As we explore the substantial impact of automotive radar over the past years, we highlight recent advancements that continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in automotive radar technology for fully autonomous driving. Key topics include the design of radar waveforms, sparse arrays synthesized with multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) radar technology for enhanced angular resolution, high-resolution direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation with a single snapshot. We then address the challenges encountered when applying MIMO radar theories to automotive contexts, including automotive radar mutual interference and multipath issues. Furthermore, we'll examine forward-thinking innovative research directions such as model-based deep neural networks for high-resolution DOA estimation, the integration of automotive radar sensing and communications, enhanced collaborative sensing via multiple automotive radars, new spectrum opportunities for automotive radars, and the transformative role of deep neural networks in radar perception for autonomous vehicles.