An optical apparatus comprises: a light source configured to emit light composed of a sequence of shots; and a steering device optically coupled to the light source and configured to steer the shots emitted by the light source in accordance with a predefined scan pattern such that at least one intermediate shot is emitted by the light source between a first shot directed by the steering device within an aperture defined by an eye safety regulation and a subsequent, second shot directed by the steering device within the same aperture, each intermediate shot being directed by the steering device outside the aperture.

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, systems and methods of optical sensing that utilize time and frequency multiplexing of sensing signals. Described are, among other things, a light source subsystem to produce a first beam having a first frequency and a second beam having a second frequency, a modulator to impart a modulation to the second beam, and an optical interface subsystem to receive a third beam caused by interaction of the first beam with an object and a fourth beam caused by interaction of the second beam with the object. Also described are one or more circuits to determine, based on a first phase information carried by the third beam, a velocity of the object, and then determine, based on a second phase information carried by the third beam and the first phase information, a distance to the object.

According to one embodiment, a system for determining a position of a vehicle includes an image sensor, a top-down view component, a comparison component, and a location component. The image sensor obtains an image of an environment near a vehicle. The top-down view component is configured to generate a top-down view of a ground surface based on the image of the environment. The comparison component is configured to compare the top-down image with a map, the map comprising a top-down light LIDAR intensity map or a vector-based semantic map. The location component is configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the comparison.

According to one embodiment, a system for determining a position of a vehicle includes an image sensor, a top-down view component, a comparison component, and a location component. The image sensor obtains an image of an environment near a vehicle. The top-down view component is configured to generate a top-down view of a ground surface based on the image of the environment. The comparison component is configured to compare the top-down image with a map, the map comprising a top-down light LIDAR intensity map or a vector-based semantic map. The location component is configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the comparison.

An object of the present invention is to provide an information display system and the like capable of showing to an object person viewing a display portion, such as a display, an object displayed on the display portion from a point of view of the operator in an accurate manner. The information display system includes: a plurality of imaging apparatuses that image an object from a point of view that differs from a point of view of a user; and a display portion that displays the object from the point of view of the user, wherein the information display system generates three-dimensional information of the object on the basis of imaging information obtained by imaging the object by the plurality of imaging apparatuses and displays, on the basis of the three-dimensional information, the object on the display portion from the point of view of the user.

An object of the present invention is to provide an information display system and the like capable of showing to an object person viewing a display portion, such as a display, an object displayed on the display portion from a point of view of the operator in an accurate manner. The information display system includes: a plurality of imaging apparatuses that image an object from a point of view that differs from a point of view of a user; and a display portion that displays the object from the point of view of the user, wherein the information display system generates three-dimensional information of the object on the basis of imaging information obtained by imaging the object by the plurality of imaging apparatuses and displays, on the basis of the three-dimensional information, the object on the display portion from the point of view of the user.

Embodiments relate to methods for efficiently encoding sensor data captured by an autonomous vehicle and building a high definition map using the encoded sensor data. The sensor data can be LiDAR data which is expressed as multiple image representations. Image representations that include important LiDAR data undergo a lossless compression while image representations that include LiDAR data that is more error-tolerant undergo a lossy compression. Therefore, the compressed sensor data can be transmitted to an online system for building a high definition map. When building a high definition map, entities, such as road signs and road lines, are constructed such that when encoded and compressed, the high definition map consumes less storage space. The positions of entities are expressed in relation to a reference centerline in the high definition map. Therefore, each position of an entity can be expressed in fewer numerical digits in comparison to conventional methods.

Embodiments relate to methods for efficiently encoding sensor data captured by an autonomous vehicle and building a high definition map using the encoded sensor data. The sensor data can be LiDAR data which is expressed as multiple image representations. Image representations that include important LiDAR data undergo a lossless compression while image representations that include LiDAR data that is more error-tolerant undergo a lossy compression. Therefore, the compressed sensor data can be transmitted to an online system for building a high definition map. When building a high definition map, entities, such as road signs and road lines, are constructed such that when encoded and compressed, the high definition map consumes less storage space. The positions of entities are expressed in relation to a reference centerline in the high definition map. Therefore, each position of an entity can be expressed in fewer numerical digits in comparison to conventional methods.

A beam scanning apparatus includes a light source configured to emit light, and a reflective phased array device configured to reflect the light emitted from the light source and incident on the reflective phased array device, and electrically adjust a reflection angle of the reflected light reflected by the reflective phased array device, wherein the light source and the reflective phased array device are disposed such the light is incident on the reflective phased array device at an incidence angle with respect to a normal of a reflective surface of the reflective phased array device.

A beam scanning apparatus includes a light source configured to emit light, and a reflective phased array device configured to reflect the light emitted from the light source and incident on the reflective phased array device, and electrically adjust a reflection angle of the reflected light reflected by the reflective phased array device, wherein the light source and the reflective phased array device are disposed such the light is incident on the reflective phased array device at an incidence angle with respect to a normal of a reflective surface of the reflective phased array device.