A sneak peek at the autonomous safaris of the future.
University College London Scientist, Simon Lewis was just minding his own business, mapping and measuring tropical forest trees in Gabon, when his 3-D laser scanner picked up a friendly visitor.
The interloper, an elephant who goes by the name of Billy, was picked up using LiDAR, a laser scanning technology that's used in everything from police speed guns to classified military detection systems. It's also one of the tools that helps Google's self-driving cars navigate through obstacles and traffic, as you can see below.
Google / Via asset0.cbsistatic.com
