Automotive Thermal Cameras for Safer ADAS and AEB
Build safer, smarter vehicles with Teledyne FLIR OEM thermal imaging solutions—including Tura™, a production-focused longwave infrared (LWIR) camera designed for Automotive Safety Integrity Level B (ASIL-B) advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle applications.
Thermal cameras help detect pedestrians, cyclists, animals, and other road users in darkness, glare, and other challenging conditions. Teledyne FLIR OEM supports vehicle manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers with thermal cameras, perception software, development tools, and a path to production.
Benefits of Teledyne FLIR OEM Automotive Thermal Cameras
Safer
Perception
Detect pedestrians, cyclists, animals, and other road users beyond headlight illumination and in darkness, glare, shadows, and many low-visibility conditions.
Smarter Sensor Fusion
Add passive thermal data to visible cameras, radar, and lidar to improve object detection and classification. Thermal can provide added confirmation of road users and hazards, helping reduce false detections and unnecessary automatic emergency braking (AEB) activation.
Proven Path to Production
Build on more than one million automotive thermal sensors supplied, with cameras, software, datasets, development tools, and support from evaluation through volume production.
Thermal-Fused Automatic Emergency Braking Test Report
Pedestrian automatic emergency braking testing conducted by VSI Labs showed that its thermal-fused AEB test vehicle passed all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 127 tests conducted, in daytime and nighttime conditions.
Three leading 2024-model AEB systems tested during the same program failed one or more nighttime scenarios. The results demonstrate how thermal sensing can provide additional perception data when visible-light systems face challenging conditions. These results apply to the tested vehicle, system configuration, and scenarios; vehicle-level performance depends on the complete sensor architecture, perception software, integration, and braking system.
Customers and Partners
Teledyne FLIR OEM works with automotive technology companies, developers, and testing organizations across thermal sensing, simulation, perception, and vehicle integration.
Products and Solutions
From Evaluation to Production
Tura Automotive Thermal Camera
Tura is a 640 × 512 longwave infrared (LWIR) thermal camera designed for production-focused ADAS, driver night vision, and autonomous vehicle programs. Designed in accordance with Automotive Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (Automotive SPICE, or ASPICE) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 for ASIL-B functional-safety applications, Tura combines Automotive Electronics Council-qualified (AEC-Q-qualified) components, shutterless operation, less than 1 ms video latency, an IP6K9K enclosure, heated-window support, camera-to-electronic control unit (ECU) authentication, and automotive video interfaces in a compact production camera. Review available configurations, fields of view, interfaces, production status, technical drawings, and integration resources on the Tura product page.
FREE Thermal Dataset for Algorithm Development
Evaluate object detection, classification, and sensor-fusion approaches using more than 26,000 annotated thermal and visible images captured during daytime and nighttime conditions. The dataset helps automotive developers begin algorithm evaluation. It includes annotated thermal and visible imagery for a range of vulnerable road-user and vehicle classes.
Integrate Thermal Cameras Faster with Prism AI
Prism AI Auto provides object detection, classification, tracking, and visible-thermal sensor-fusion capabilities for automotive perception development. Perception engineers can use Prism AI Auto as a development framework or reference implementation when evaluating thermal cameras for ADAS and autonomous vehicle systems. Camera calibration tools, visible-and-thermal fusion, and advanced image processing support faster evaluation and integration.
Prism AI - Auto
Detection and Tracking Software Framework for Automotive Perception System Development
Start Testing with the Teledyne FLIR OEM Automotive Development Kit
The FLIR ADK provides a plug-and-play route for collecting thermal data and evaluating thermal sensing in ADAS and autonomous vehicle development programs. The kit includes a 640 × 512 Boson® thermal camera in a heated all-weather IP67 housing, with interfaces that support early system development before transitioning to an automotive-qualified production camera such as Tura.
How Thermal Cameras Enhance AEB Performance
See how adding Teledyne FLIR OEM thermal sensors to autonomous vehicles and ADAS can make vehicles safer by improving perception and filling gaps created by other sensors.
Automatic Emergency Braking Fused with Thermal Can Save Lives
Many current production AEB systems rely primarily on radar and visible cameras without thermal sensing. In testing conducted by VSI Labs, a thermal-fused research vehicle stopped successfully in challenging daytime and nighttime scenarios. Production performance depends on the complete vehicle system.
Testing Automatic Emergency Braking with FLIR Thermal Cameras
Three test cases were conducted in both daylight and darkness, giving six datasets and 35 total test runs using an adult Euro NCAP Pedestrian Target (EPTa). Test results were promising. In all runs for all six test cases, the AEB system successfully brought the VUT to a stop before reaching the EPTa.
Creating Safer Roads of Tomorrow
Thermal imaging can support pedestrian AEB, driver night vision, animal detection, autonomous passenger and commercial vehicles, robotaxis, shuttles, and 360-degree situational awareness.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an automotive thermal camera?
An automotive thermal camera is a passive LWIR camera designed for vehicle applications. It detects heat differences instead of reflected visible light and can support night vision, ADAS, and other driver-assistance functions in darkness, glare, and challenging visibility conditions.
Why use a thermal camera in an ADAS system?
Thermal cameras detect heat rather than relying on reflected visible light. This can help identify pedestrians, cyclists, animals, and other vulnerable road users (VRUs) in darkness, headlight and sun glare, shadows, and many low-visibility conditions. Thermal sensing complements visible cameras, radar, and lidar in a multispectral system.
Can thermal cameras help reduce false-positive AEB braking?
Thermal cameras provide additional object-confirmation data in darkness, glare, shadows, and other challenging conditions. When fused with other sensors, thermal data can help distinguish road users and hazards from ambiguous visual inputs, potentially reducing false detections and unnecessary braking.
Can thermal cameras help with FMVSS No. 127 performance?
VSI Labs tested a thermal-fused AEB research vehicle against FMVSS No. 127 scenarios during daytime and nighttime conditions. The test vehicle passed all scenarios conducted during the program. Production-vehicle performance depends on the complete sensing, software, integration, and braking architecture.
Can Teledyne FLIR OEM support an automotive production program?
Yes. Teledyne FLIR OEM supports vehicle manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers from early evaluation through integration, qualification, and volume production. Contact the automotive team with your application, program stage, interface and safety requirements, timing, and anticipated volume.
Does a thermal camera replace radar, lidar, or a visible camera?
No. Thermal provides complementary passive perception data and is typically integrated with visible cameras, radar, or lidar in a multispectral system.
Do automotive thermal cameras work in rain, fog, and snow?
Thermal cameras can provide useful perception in many low-visibility conditions. Performance varies with weather severity, temperature contrast, lens condition, mounting, and system design.
What is the difference between the Automotive Development Kit and Tura?
The Automotive Development Kit supports data collection, testing, and early algorithm development. Tura is designed for production-focused vehicle programs.
Which Teledyne FLIR OEM thermal camera is designed for production vehicle programs?
Tura is a 640 × 512 LWIR camera designed for production-focused ADAS, driver night vision, and autonomous vehicle programs, with automotive interfaces and functional-safety development support.
How far can an automotive thermal camera detect a pedestrian?
Detection range depends on camera resolution, lens field of view, mounting, conditions, software, and system requirements. Teledyne FLIR OEM can help evaluate the right configuration for a specific program.
What should OEMs consider when integrating a thermal camera into an ADAS system?
OEMs should consider the intended safety function, camera resolution and field of view, mounting location, environmental protection, video interfaces, latency, and functional-safety requirements. Integration planning should also address camera calibration and how thermal data will complement visible cameras, radar, or lidar within the perception system. Detection and braking performance depend on the complete sensing, software, integration, and vehicle system.
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