Applications and Services Using Vehicular Exteroceptive Sensors: A Survey

Modern vehicles are equipped with a myriad of sensors. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Proprioceptive</i> sensors monitor the vehicle status and operation, whereas <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">exteroceptive</i> ones sense the external environment, i.e., outside the vehicle’s mechanics domain. A myriad of vehicular applications, from monitoring to autonomous driving, rely on the information provided by sensors. In this article, we focus those which depend on exteroceptive sensors, which are critical for modern Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles, regardless of their automation level. Initially, we provide an overview of vehicular sensors and Off-the-Shelf (OTS) devices. Then, we focus on exteroceptive sensors, identifying different technologies, usages, pros and cons, as well as their availability in existing OTS devices. Next, we review the services and applications using exteroceptive sensors, especially regarding safety, navigation, and driving profiling. Besides referencing the most relevant literature on exteroceptive sensors, we also identify the datasets available in the literature. We conclude with open challenges using exteroceptive sensors from both industry and research perspectives.