Affordable Thermal Sensors Will Allow Auto Industry to Advance the Reliability and Redundancy Needed for Self-Driving Cars

WILSONVILLE, Ore., Jan 9 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) today announced the availability of a high-resolution Thermal Vision Automotive Development Kit (ADK^™) featuring the high-performance FLIR Boson^™ thermal camera for automakers, tier-one automotive parts suppliers, and innovators of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The new FLIR ADK allows developers to add an affordable, long-range thermal camera to their ADAS development vehicles to help advance reliability and redundancy required for self-driving cars. 

As the auto industry’s only automotive-qualified passive infrared sensor currently in production, FLIR^® sensors are offered today on numerous vehicles from General Motors, Peugeot, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW, and as an aftermarket system. An ideal sensor technology for pedestrian and animal detection, thermal sensors can see up to four times the distance of typical headlights. Thermal imaging helps drivers and future self-driving vehicles see in challenging environments such as darkness, sun glare, fog, smoke, and haze. Given this differentiated sensing capability and intense market focus, ABI Research expects annual shipments of night vision systems, including thermal imaging sensors, to grow from 200,000 in 2017 to 4.2 million in 2021¹.

The FLIR ADK features the high-resolution FLIR Boson, which is equipped with an Intel^® Movidius^™ Myriad^™ 2 Vision Processing Unit, a sophisticated, low-power multi-core vision processor that fits within a compact footprint package ideal for automobiles. The ADK is also compatible with the NVIDIA^® DRIVE^™ autonomous vehicle computing platform.

“FLIR thermal imaging sensors have played a critical role in enhancing driver safety for more than a decade, and using them for advanced driver assistance systems in self-driving cars is a natural evolution,” said James Cannon, President and CEO of FLIR. “With our latest high-resolution automotive development kit, automakers can develop and integrate thermal imaging technology in self-driving cars easier, faster, and with low cost of ownership.”    

FLIR will demonstrate the ADK on the NVIDIA DRIVE PX2 at CES 2018 in the FLIR booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall 3, #31160. The FLIR ADK is available for purchase today. To learn more, visit http://www.flir.com/adk/.

About FLIR Systems, Inc.

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon, FLIR Systems is a world-leading maker of sensor systems that enhance perception and heighten awareness, helping to save lives, improve productivity, and protect the environment. Through its nearly 3,500 employees, FLIR’s vision is to be “The World’s Sixth Sense” by leveraging thermal imaging and adjacent technologies to provide innovative, intelligent solutions for security and surveillance, environmental and condition monitoring, outdoor recreation, machine vision, navigation, and advanced threat detection. For more information, please visit www.flir.com and follow @flir.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements of opinion in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about FLIR's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in FLIR's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and FLIR does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet service providers.

¹ ABI Research, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Third Quarter 2017

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9f60f49-88af-47ec-a990-3252c2b9c67d

Media Contact:
Tim McDowd
Phone: 503-498-3146
Email: tim.mcdowd@flir.com

Investor Relations:
Shane Harrison
Phone: 503-498-3547
Email: shane.harrison@flir.com

Source : FLIR Systems, Inc.

--BERNAMA