By ATN Editorial Team
An automotive thermal camera is a passive imaging sensor that detects longwave infrared (LWIR) radiation from a scene and converts it into an image. Because that radiation is associated with the temperature and emissivity of objects, thermal imaging can help detect pedestrians, cyclists and animals in darkness without relying on headlights or other illumination. Lynred’s CAPT640-02 and the detector in Raytron’s Horus 640D both use a 12 micrometre pitch in VGA-class formats, according to their makers.
Three things decide whether a given unit is useful: its noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD), where lower values generally mean greater sensitivity; its pixel pitch and optics; and whether it was developed to ISO 26262 or only qualified to AEC-Q. The third is the one most often confused.
What Is An Automotive Thermal Camera?
A visible camera depends on the scene being lit. A thermal camera records infrared radiance, which is primarily associated with the temperature of objects under typical conditions, although reflected environmental radiation also contributes. So a pedestrian can stay visible in darkness, headlight glare or backlighting. Lynred and Teledyne FLIR both position it for pedestrian automatic emergency braking (PAEB) and night vision.
Thermal is established but small: IDTechEx estimated in 2024 that more than 1.2 million vehicles carried an LWIR camera, about 0.08 percent of 1.5 billion. In autonomous driving it is one sensor among many; DiDi’s R2 robotaxi uses Raytron’s Horus 640D in a 33-sensor suite.
How Does An Uncooled Microbolometer Work?
The microbolometer array is the detector. Each pixel has a sensing layer that absorbs LWIR radiation and changes electrical resistance as its temperature changes, and a readout integrated circuit digitises every pixel. In SCD’s published 12 micrometre, 640 by 512 detector (a 2025 research paper that gives no part number), the sensing layer is vanadium oxide, built by post-processing on top of a 0.18 micrometre CMOS readout circuit.
“Uncooled” means there is no cryogenic cooler. SCD says its wafer-level-packaged sensor operates without a thermoelectric cooler from minus 40 to plus 71 degrees Celsius, and lists a detector thermal time constant below 7 milliseconds. That is short against a 16.7 millisecond frame period at 60 Hz, though it does not alone define a camera’s temporal response.
The practical difficulty is calibration. Conventional thermal cameras periodically close an internal shutter to recalibrate, which freezes the image. That is unacceptable in a braking function, so automotive designs aim to be shutterless: Teledyne FLIR says Tura is, Raytron says its algorithm removes the freeze, and SCD cites channel-level compensation. These are supplier claims; none of the material read publishes image stability over the full automotive temperature range and lifetime.
What Do NETD And Pixel Pitch Tell You?
Noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) is the scene temperature difference that would produce a signal equal to the camera’s temporal noise, under specified conditions. It is quoted in millikelvin, and lower values generally mean greater thermal sensitivity. It is not, by itself, a measure of pedestrian detection range or classification accuracy. Copy that praises a “high NETD” has it backwards: the quantity improves as it falls.
NETD only compares across datasheets if the conditions match. Teledyne FLIR states that it depends on f-number, integration time and scene temperature, and its own procedure uses a 25 degrees Celsius blackbody and a 25 mm lens for LWIR. SCD quotes below 50 millikelvin at F/1, 25 degrees Celsius and 60 Hz; Lynred’s CAPT640-02 page quotes below 60 millikelvin at f/1, 300 K and 30 Hz. They share an f-number but differ in frame rate and scene temperature, so they are not strictly equivalent.
| Product | Type | Pitch | Format | Published sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCD 12 micrometre detector (2025 paper) | Bare detector, wafer-level packaged | 12 micrometres | 640 x 512 | Below 50 mK temporal NETD (F/1, 25 C, 60 Hz) |
| Teledyne FLIR ADK | Development kit (GMSL models listed in production, USB-C discontinued) | 12 micrometres | 640 x 512 | Thermal sensitivity below 50 mK (conditions not stated) |
| Lynred CAPT640-02 | Bare die, wafer-level packaging | 12 micrometres | 640 x 480 | Below 60 mK NETD (30 Hz, f/1, 300 K), on the product page; not in the launch coverage |
| Teledyne FLIR Tura | Complete camera, announced as available | Not disclosed | 640 x 512 | Not disclosed |
Detection range is the least comparable figure. A 2022 Lynred and Umicore project description claimed thermal detection at 150 to 300 metres and classification at 100 to 200 metres, against 20 to 30 metres for a visible camera under low beam, with no test details. The later Lynred and Saint-Gobain paper is more specific. It used adults 1.65 to 1.75 metres tall, a cyclist and a person with a dog, from daylight to night, with 12 micrometre sensors behind f/1.0 lenses (QVGA: 6.2 mm, 36 degree field; VGA: 14 mm, 31 degree field). It reports about 90 metres (QVGA) and 140 metres (VGA) at an 80 percent confidence threshold, which the authors call a compromise between miss rate and false detection rate: a tuning choice, not a probability of being correct in the field. Its 46 metre figure is the requirement for one scenario (60 km/h, 0.5 g deceleration, one second reaction time), not a universal PAEB requirement. Raytron claims up to 300 metres. All three are supplier-reported, and the sources do not isolate how much of the spread is definition. Ask which threshold, target, lens and protocol.
Pixel pitch drives size and cost. For the same pixel count and field of view, a smaller pitch means a smaller die and shorter focal length, though the benefit depends on optical design and processing. Lynred describes its 8.5 micrometre sensor, a QVGA prototype shown in October 2024, as halving camera volume with no performance trade-off. That is a supplier-reported prototype result for one resolution, not an established consequence of smaller pitch. IDTechEx notes pitch has fallen from 37 micrometres in 2000 to 12 and judges going much below 10 very challenging. Optics are the other cost: germanium cost almost US$3,900 per kilogram in September 2024, up 37 percent in nine months; chalcogenide glass can be hot-formed instead of diamond-turned.
What Does An ASIL Rating Mean For A Camera?
ISO 26262 is the functional safety standard for electrical and electronic systems in series production road vehicles (current edition December 2018, revision in draft). An Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL), graded A to D, describes the integrity requirements attached to a safety goal for a vehicle function. It is set by hazard analysis and risk assessment (severity, exposure, controllability). It is not a standalone measure of a camera’s detection performance, and it is not a product certificate.
A supplier cannot know every vehicle, so a camera is usually developed as a safety element out of context (SEooC) under ISO 26262-10, against assumptions of use that the integrator must validate on the target platform. A claim of development to ASIL-B requirements holds only within that intended use and its safety documentation, and says nothing about independent assessment. The vehicle-level safety case must still cover the complete function.
ISO 26262-9 allows certain requirements to be decomposed across sufficiently independent elements, for example ASIL D into two ASIL B(D) elements, subject to evidence of independence. A thermal channel may contribute to a diverse sensing architecture, but a different sensing modality does not by itself establish that independence: shared resources, failure modes and dependent-failure analysis all matter. None of the sources used here says a production programme relies on thermal in that way.
Which Automotive Thermal Cameras Meet ISO 26262?
On the public evidence read for this guide, one supplier makes the claim. Teledyne FLIR says Tura, announced on 5 January 2026, is the first ASIL-B LWIR camera developed in compliance with ISO 26262. That is a supplier claim about development to ASIL-B requirements. The release gives no NETD, pixel pitch, field of view, range or safety metrics, and the material read mentions no independent assessment or certificate, so it should not be read as one. Valeo’s January 2024 announcement with Teledyne FLIR used the same wording. Other suppliers’ claims were not verified.
Do not read other automotive qualifications as functional safety. AEC-Q100 is a component qualification standard and IATF 16949 is an automotive quality management standard. Lynred’s CAPT640-02 carries both (AEC-Q100 Grade 3, minus 40 to plus 85 degrees Celsius, with PPAP available), which speak to environmental robustness and production quality. Neither is an ASIL, and Lynred does not claim one. CAPT640 is a bare die, a component rather than a camera, so any ASIL would attach to the camera built around it. An ASIL also says nothing about how far a pedestrian is detected in fog; that has to be shown by test.
What Does FMVSS 127 Mean For Thermal Cameras?
FMVSS 127, issued in 2024, requires pedestrian AEB to operate between 10 and 73 km/h, with compliance due by 1 September 2029 (2030 for small-volume manufacturers). Its status is in flux. An industry court challenge is held in abeyance, and the federal regulatory agenda lists a proposal to extend lead time by two years, with an NPRM target of July 2026. As of 15 October 2026 a Federal Register search found no published notice amending FMVSS 127, so 2029 stands in the record found; re-check before relying on it. Lynred and Teledyne FLIR cite the standard as a driver for thermal, which is a supplier claim about demand.
The evidence for thermal is one vendor-commissioned test. A Teledyne FLIR and VSI Labs research vehicle with a thermal camera, radar and visible camera passed every night PAEB scenario, while three 2024 production vehicles without thermal failed two or more. That is one research vehicle against three production cars, not proof of thermal superiority in every night-time condition. The same release notes that NHTSA’s own testing had a 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid pass every PAEB test, so thermal is one route to compliance, not a requirement.
Where Do Thermal Cameras Fall Short?
Glass is the main constraint. Conventional automotive glazing is generally opaque to the LWIR wavelengths these cameras use, so forward-facing systems typically need an alternative mounting position or a specially engineered transmission window. Current cameras sit in the grille, as IDTechEx noted in 2024, where they face debris; Tura’s heated IP6K9K enclosure answers that. Lynred says CAPT640 can mount in the grille, windscreen or roof and has published windscreen-integration work with Saint-Gobain, but a detector’s potential for integration is not a validated production glazing solution. IDTechEx expected LWIR-transparent windscreens in 2027; none was confirmed in production.
A thermal image carries no colour, so it needs a visible camera beside it for traffic lights and signs. Cost and volume remain barriers. Thermal can win on the glass: in the Lynred and Saint-Gobain tests of one camera set-up, raindrops larger than about 3 mm pushed visible-camera confidence below the 80 percent threshold, while thermal confidence was unaffected at every size tested, with responsivity falling to about 90 percent at a roughly 6 mm droplet. That is a controlled droplet result, not a general weather result.
The case for thermal is a fusion case, and fusion is not automatically better: it depends on calibration, synchronisation, algorithms and failure handling. IIHS research cited by Teledyne FLIR found pedestrian AEB prevents crashes in daylight but showed no difference in night-time crash odds on unlit roads. Whether a thermal channel is worth having depends on the night-time test regime an OEM expects, and on the cost of optics, mounting, calibration, fusion software and validation.
Automotive Thermal Camera FAQs
A microbolometer is an uncooled thermal detector whose pixels absorb longwave infrared radiation and change electrical resistance as they warm. A readout circuit digitises the change into an image, with no cryogenic cooler. Lynred’s CAPT640-02, for example, uses a 12 micrometre pixel pitch.
Publicly, only Teledyne FLIR claims one: it says Tura, announced on 5 January 2026, was developed to ASIL-B requirements under ISO 26262. That is a supplier claim, and the release mentions no independent assessment. Lynred’s CAPT640-02 is AEC-Q100 Grade 3 qualified and made under IATF 16949 but does not claim an ASIL.
NETD is noise equivalent temperature difference: the temperature difference that would produce a signal equal to the camera’s temporal noise, under specified conditions, in millikelvin. Lower values generally mean greater sensitivity. It is not a measure of detection range, and datasheet values only compare under matching f-number, frame rate and scene temperature.
No. AEC-Q100 is a component qualification standard and IATF 16949 is an automotive quality management standard. ISO 26262 governs the functional safety development process behind an ASIL. A part can hold the first two without the third.
Conventional automotive glazing is generally opaque to the LWIR wavelengths these cameras use, so forward-facing systems typically need another mounting position or a specially engineered transmission window. Lynred says CAPT640 can mount in the windscreen, but no validated production glazing solution was confirmed.
It depends on the definition. Lynred and Umicore claimed detection at 150 to 300 metres; a later Lynred and Saint-Gobain paper reported about 90 metres (QVGA) and 140 metres (VGA) at a tuned 80 percent classifier confidence threshold, for specific targets, lenses and conditions. All figures are supplier-reported.
For more thermal imaging news, click here.
Further Reading From The ATN Thermal Imaging Library
- Teledyne FLIR Launches Tura Thermal Camera For AVs And ADAS (Jan 2026)
- Lynred CAPT640 Thermal Imaging Sensor Launches As Bare Die (Sep 2026)
- Teledyne FLIR’s Thermal Imaging Technology Helps OEMs Meet Night Time AEB Standards (Dec 2024)
- Lynred Demonstrates Smallest Thermal Imaging Sensor For AEB Systems (Oct 2024)
- DiDi And Raytron Develop Thermal Imaging Camera For Autonomous Robotaxi (Mar 2026)
- Valeo And Teledyne FLIR Collaborate On Thermal Imaging Technology For Automotive Safety Systems (Jan 2024)
- What Is An Image Signal Processor (ISP)? An Engineer’s Guide (Aug 2026)
