ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,498,470, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to Waymo LLC (Mountain View, Calif.).
"Surface fouling detection" was invented by Ethan Stark (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The technology relates to detecting water or fouling on the exterior surface of a sensor cover, for instance due to precipitation or debris (fouling). Such objects on the sensor cover surface may degrade operation of the sensor, which can be problematic for vehicles operating in an autonomous driving mode. According to an aspect of the technology, a waveguide layer is provided on the sensor cover. A laser emits light at a selected wavelength along one side...