A vehicle includes: a front camera configured to capture an image in front of the vehicle through a windshield of the vehicle; a front visibility recognition unit configured to recognize a degree of deterioration of front visibility through the windshield based on captured image of the front camera; a foreign object removing unit configured to remove a surface abnormality of a rear window that deteriorates rear visibility through the rear window of the vehicle; and a rear visibility control unit configured to operate the foreign object removing unit to remove the surface abnormality of the rear window based on the degree of deterioration of the front visibility.

A window glass heating device for a vehicle is provided with a window heater configured to heat a whole area of a window glass, a window heater control unit configured to control the window heater, a camera heater that is an electric heater which heats a camera-imaging window area which is a part of the window glass included in an imaging area of a camera that images a vehicle exterior from a vehicle interior via the window glass, and a camera heater control unit configured to control supply of power to the camera heater. The camera heater control unit is configured to acquire window heater operation information, acquire a temperature of the camera heater, and control supply of power to the camera heater such that the temperature of the camera heater is within a predetermined temperature range based on the window heater operation information.

An automatic rain response system includes microphones of a vehicle, windshield wipers, and a controller. The microphones generate acoustic signals in response to rain. The controller is configured to receive a local weather condition, extract acoustic features from the acoustic signals, form feature vectors in response to the acoustic features and the local weather condition, classify the feature vectors to determine a current class among multiple classes, activate the windshield the wipers at a high speed in response to the current class being a heavy rain on a windshield class, activate the windshield wipers at a medium speed in response to the current class being a freezing rain on the windshield class, activate the windshield wipers at a low speed in response to the current class being a light rain on the windshield class, and deactivate the windshield wipers in response to the current class being a no rain class.

The technology relates to keeping sensors of a perception system optically clear and free from condensation. A transparent film, such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), acts as a moisture sensor that covers the optical area of interest. When a measured value of the moisture sensor meets a certain threshold that indicates the presence of condensate, power is applied to the sensor, turning it into a heater. When the measured value no longer meets the threshold, power is removed and heating ceases. The ITO layer may be lithographically applied to a glass sensor cover or other window, with interleaved sections of material that are spaced closely to detect a minimum amount of condensate. This arrangement enables the system to be employed in sensor assemblies at various locations along a self-driving vehicle, and can be used with different types of sensors such as lidar sensors, cameras and other imaging devices.

A lighting assembly is presented herein. The lighting assembly includes a receptacle terminal having a connection portion defining an aperture configured to receive a corresponding plug terminal along a longitudinal axis and a terminal housing defining an opening and a cavity in which the connection portion is disposed. The connection portion is sized, shaped, and arranged within the cavity to be movable along a lateral axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

Disclosed is a device (5) for cleaning an optical surface, which device comprises: a transparent optical surface (10); a cleaning unit (15) for cleaning the optical surface, having a piezoelectric layer (20) and at least two wave transducers (45), each wave transducer having electrodes (40) of opposite polarity in contact with the piezoelectric layer and being acoustically coupled to the optical surface so as to generate at least one surface ultrasonic wave (W.sub.s) or a Lamb wave (W.sub.L) propagating in the optical surface, the transducers being further arranged on the periphery of the optical surface.

The invention relates to a device (5) comprising: an optical surface (10); a cleaning unit (15) for cleaning the optical surface, comprising at least one wave transducer (70) acoustically coupled to the optical surface, the wave transducer having a piezoelectric layer (80) and electrodes (85) of opposite polarity in contact with the piezoelectric layer, and being configured to generate at least one surface ultrasonic wave (W.sub.S) or a Lamb wave (W.sub.L) propagating in the optical surface; the optical surface having at least one region of optical interest (100) not superposed on the wave transducer, the device comprising an apparatus (20) configured to sense and/or to emit radiation (R) through the region of optical interest (100).

An apparatus includes an interface and a processor. The interface may be configured to receive video frames comprising at least one of a vehicle or an outdoor environment near the vehicle and a correction signal. The processor may be configured to perform video operations on the video frames to detect objects, predict a state of the vehicle based on the objects detected in the video frames and generate the correction signal. The correction signal may be configured to apply a corrective measure based on the predicted state of the vehicle. The state of the vehicle may be predicted when the vehicle is parked in the outdoor environment. The state of the vehicle may comprise factors that prevent driving the vehicle.

A front quarter glass includes a window plate, a frame-like black ceramic layer on a peripheral portion of an interior side surface, and an anti-fogging film provided in a region excluding an entire peripheral portion of the window plate. A boundary is between the regions where the anti-fogging film is provided and not provided, has no perspective distortion, and has a boundary line of 10-200 m that is visually recognized by scattering of incoming light. An outer periphery of the anti-fogging film is located is located 8 mm inside from an inner periphery of the black ceramic layer in a first region. The first region is to less than 50% of an entire inner periphery including a lower front portion. The outer periphery of the anti-fogging film is located 8-35 mm inside the inner periphery of the black ceramic layer in a second region excluding the first region.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for operating a rear camera with an embedded defroster and proximity switch. An example vehicle includes a rear view camera having a lens, an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coating applied to the lens, and a control system. The control system is configured to detect a water-based obstruction on the lens, run current through the ITO coating to remove the water-based obstruction, detect a lens touch event, and release a vehicle trunk latch responsive to the lens touch event.