How high-tech coatings are driving the self-driving revolution

Artificial intelligence will power the self-driving revolution and improve connectivity and machine vision. But paints, paints and other substances, which will cover autonomous vehicles (AVs), will not be overlooked as unsophonsed heroes for future driverless vehicles.
area in which coatings play a fundamental role in autonomous vehicles is navigational functions. In response, David Bem, PPG's chief science and technology officer and vice president, said: "Coatings are critical to sensors that allow vehicles to communicate with each other, get to know each other, and detect obstacles and roads. These sensors, including cameras, radars and other equipment, will help cars move from parking lots to thousands of highway vehicles in an orderly manner.lidar (light detection and rangeflight) sensors are one of the most ingenious of these devices, they emit light by pulsed on objects and then use reflection speed to calculate distance and position. The trouble is that darker paints don't reflect these pulsations well. For example, in one test, a black car reflected only half the signal of a white car, which significantly reduced its "visible" performance.that's the right coating to get in.
David Bem says PPG has designed and developed a dark coating that allows light to penetrate toward the bottom of the reflection, and the signal "bounces back" to the bottom layer and back to the sensor rather than being absorbed. Bem calls this "aubergine" technique PPG because the coloring of eggplant works in the same way as light and thermal reflection.another important application for minimizing leakage and repelling mud
coatings is to minimize RF leakage, where electromagnetic signals drift and penetrate each other, signal drift can cause crosstalk and thus reduce the efficiency of the equipment. David Bem says PPG's aviation technology, such as dielectors, will ensure that signals are not confused and perform at the other level., not only on the outside of the vehicle, but the coating is key, and they also play a role.
self-driving will change our relationship with cars. By promoting car sharing, cars will be more like taxis or city buses than the private property we know today, but taxis and buses shared by thousands of people are not the cleanest places in the world., we're going to see the development of "functional coatings" with antibacterial or antiviral properties," says David Bem. Autonomous vehicles will equip passengers with screens that can work or play, and these screens will need to be dyed, smeared and fingerprinted.At the same time, the battery components of autonomous vehicles will also rely on the coating: a protective coating at the bottom to prevent gravel and other debris thrown from the road surface, as well as a thermal coating on the top, which heats up during use. "The coating will ensure that heat can be dissipated from the system in a safe manner," says David Bem.Coaled landscape
but high-tech coatings not only help the vehicle itself, but also play a significant role in road infrastructure, including guardrails, splits, bridge walls, road signs, and all the other road landscape elements that driverless cars must see, making them fully visible to autonomous vehicle sensors.the development of these coatings can pose some interesting challenges. "This bright reflective coating makes it easy for the eye to see the road surface," says Bem. Amplifying the signal also fills and saturates the sensor, making it more efficient. "Researchers have been developing wavelength management techniques to overcome these challenges. PPG already has a coating technology that allows users to better manage the reflectivity of specific wavelengths.these are just a few of the uses of advanced coatings when autonomous driving takes over the road, and the Silicon Valley giant is attracting most of the attention of self-driving cars with amazing technology. However, in terms of innovative coatings, this is a big boost, the coating has a quiet effect, plays a key role, if all goes well, driverless technology users will never even notice it.
。