I open this post with a disclosure. I was recently reading an article about the hazards of night driving and how challenging low illumination conditions can be for self-driving cars. This is where I borrowed from the title for my post.

All of us who have to drive at night, have experienced situations where darkness and shades obstruct or compromise our view. The Prince of Darkness works against us. We, humans, have the ability to evaluate conditions and even get a feeling about a possible risk in our way. Strong headlights can help but cannot eliminate all risks. Can cameras help us see better? As we mentioned in a previous post, cameras have more optical power than humans but they may also be blinded as we do either by weather conditions or the simultaneous presence of dark regions and strong lights.

Modern street LED lights provide good illumination but don’t force the Prince of Darkness entirely out of his kingdom. Smaller streets and rural areas are places where he still reigns unchallenged. Lolaark Vision is developing the technology to empower self-driving car cameras to see better even in extreme conditions.