Next generation radar sensors in automotive sensor fusion systems

During the last decades, radar sensors have become an established component in assisted driving systems. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors are commonly perceived as the key technology to enable fully autonomous driving, but are still expensive. Recent advances in radar technology, enable modern radar sensors to sense the environment in higher detail, thus adding significant value to the environment perception quality of a sensor fusion system. Due to their performance, reliability, and cost-efficiency, modern radar sensors will be a crucial element in future autonomous vehicles. In this paper we give an overview of the current state-of-the-art of automotive radar sensors and their potential in future vehicles and data fusion systems. We want to show that modern radar sensors add significant value to automotive environment perception in order to enable fully automated driving. Additionally, challenges arising with the integration of new radar sensors and remaining issues are discussed.