---
title: "MIT Research Lets Driverless Cars Spot Obstacles Around Corners"
description: "A team of MIT researchers claim to have developed a new technology that allows driverless cars to see around corners to make them safer."
date: "2019-10-29"
modified: "2019-10-29"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-driverless-car-see-around-corners"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "autonomous car"
  - "driverless car"
  - "Self-driving cars"
  - "the digest"
---

# MIT Research Lets Driverless Cars Spot Obstacles Around Corners

![A team of MIT researchers claim to have developed a new technology that allows driverless cars to see around corners to make them safer.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/driverless-car-see-around-corners.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: MIT\</em\>*

## Seeing Around Corners

A team of MIT researchers claim to have developed tech that allows driverless cars to [see around corners](<http://news.mit.edu/2019/helping-autonomous-vehicles-see-around-corners-1028>).

The hope is that the work could make autonomous cars preemptively aware of out-of-view hazards, including pedestrians and other vehicles, in order to slam on the brakes a fraction of a second early to avoid a collision.

https://youtu.be/NqFEd-9J1lE

## X-Ray Specs

This is how the system works: cameras mounted to the top of the vehicle scan a specific section of road ahead of it and analyze it each frame for the presence of shadows.

If, for instance, the self-driving car is maneuvering through a parking garage, the new system would let it detect that a car is coming around a corner by detecting its shadow on the road ahead — even if there's no line of sight between the two vehicles.

## Natural Light

So far, the researchers have tested the system only in indoor settings without natural light, both at intersections in underground parking garages and with motorized wheelchairs in an office environment. The system isn't ready for use on actual roadways yet, but the researchers are hoping it could become a valuable new tool to make self-driving cars safer.

"The big dream is to provide ‘X-ray vision’ of sorts to vehicles moving fast on the streets," said Daniela Rus, director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in [a statement](<http://news.mit.edu/2019/helping-autonomous-vehicles-see-around-corners-1028>).

**READ MORE:** [MIT Researchers Taught Autonomous Cars to See Around Corners](<https://gizmodo.com/mit-researchers-taught-autonomous-cars-to-see-around-co-1839420704>) \[*Gizmodo*\]

**More on autonomous cars:** *[We Took a Ride on NYC’s First Self-Driving Shuttle](<https://futurism.com/nyc-self-driving-shuttle>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)