In the early days of air transport, pilots relied on a nationwide network of beacons for night time navigation. A hundred years later, the first generation of autonomous vehicles may also rely on light beams to navigate safely.
One of the companies leading the way toward the driverless future is Valeo, an automotive technology company based in France that produces a wide variety of components ranging from ultrasonic sensors to lidar systems. The company has already achieved a number of breakthroughs in the field of intuitive driving, including 24 hours on the Paris beltway, as well as road trips around Europe and the United States.