Secure LiDAR chip: a sensor that rejects fake laser signals, for carmakers
What it is: A prototype chip, built by researchers at Keio University in Japan, for the LiDAR on a self-driving vehicle: the laser sensor that tells the vehicle how far away every person and object is, by timing how long its laser flashes take to bounce back. The chip lets the sensor tell its own returning flashes apart from fake ones an attacker shines at it.
Who it's for: Companies that build or run self-driving vehicles. What they gain is a sensor that keeps seeing a pedestrian during a laser attack; in the researchers' test, the same sensor without the chip's check lost that pedestrian completely.
The catch: It is a lab prototype, not a product you can buy. Under attack it kept 73 of every 100 measurements, not all of them, and the protection was proven on recorded data, not yet live on the chip.