From Optics to Legislation, Optikos is Establishing the Standard for Thermal Camera Safety in Autonomous Vehicles

In the quiet hours of an early morning, while most of the world is asleep, Kevin Sweeney logs into the ISO website to review the documents that will reshape how autonomous vehicles will navigate our streets. As the newly appointed leader of the United States Technical Advisory Group serving the Automotive Perception Sensors Working Group within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Sweeney finds himself at the center of a unique convergence: cutting-edge optics, international bureaucracy, and the urgent push for pedestrian safety on American roads.

“It’s a whole new language to learn,” admits Sweeney, the Product Line Manager at Optikos, a Massachusetts-based company that has manufactured thermal camera testing equipment for nearly twenty-five years. “All the acronyms, the development stages—it’s complicated.” Yet this complexity masks what Sweeney considers a rare professional opportunity: shaping standards that will directly impact public safety.

A Narrow Window for Industry Leadership

The timing couldn’t be more appropriate—or more urgent. In 2029, new US legislation will require vehicles to demonstrate the ability to detect pedestrians in total darkness. Coincidentally, the ISO standard Sweeney is helping develop will take effect in that same year.

“The timelines are aligned,” Sweeney notes. “But the testing standards might be defined in the same year that the regulation goes into effect. That doesn’t give you a lot of runway if you are an automotive manufacturer. So we are trying to race ahead of that with our work.”

This alignment places Sweeney’s contribution at the intersection of regulatory necessity and technical innovation. The standard addresses a critical gap. The automotive industry is rapidly integrating thermal cameras. Yet manufacturers lack a unified way to compare performance. Without standardized testing, a car buyer has no reliable way of knowing whether the car’s thermal systems are actually of the best quality. This unknown impacts the overall driving experience, especially regarding the car’s safety features.

For More than a Decade in the Field

“They essentially gave (Optikos) the leadership position because of our track-record as a leading manufacturer of thermal camera testing equipment for the past twenty-five years.”

— Kevin Sweeney, Product Line Manager at Optikos

Sweeney’s authority on the subject stems from deep, hands-on experience. For eleven years, he has worked at Optikos, building and installing thermal camera test stations worldwide. His career began with the Optikos Thermal Target Generator (TTG), a product he personally managed and shipped globally.

“I’ve built those. I shipped them all over the world. I’ve installed them and got feedback from our clients on them,” he says. “So, I think that’s why it made sense for me to be one of the individuals participating in this larger regulatory project.”

His expertise proved invaluable when the ISO’s Road Vehicles Group, rather than the Optics Group, was tasked with developing the thermal camera standard. The group lacked subject matter experts in optics, and Sweeney’s organization stepped in. “They essentially gave us the leadership position because of our track-record as a leading manufacturer of thermal camera testing equipment for the past twenty-five years,” he explains. “The discussions started in 2025 with our Business Development Manager, Simon Miner, and has led to us being an active part of the standard roadmap.” Now, Sweeney leads the US Technical Advisory Group serving Working Group 16, the international body focused on automotive perception sensors.

The Physics of Seeing in Darkness

The technical challenges for thermal camera manufacturing are substantial. These devices operate in fundamentally different ways from visible‑light cameras. In the thermal world, every object emits radiation based on its temperature, creating what Sweeney calls a “background-rich environment.”

“To imagine this in the visible world, it would be like trying to take a picture of a person, but they’re standing in a room where everything is a light bulb,” he explains. “Everything is giving off light and flooding the camera constantly. Now, try to differentiate the human from those light sources. It’s tough.”

Two key metrics define thermal camera performance: NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference), which measures sensitivity to temperature changes, and MTF (Modulation Transfer Function), which measures image sharpness. Unlike visible cameras, these metrics interact significantly in thermal systems. Low MTF can degrade NETD performance, and vice versa—a complication that must be accounted for in any standardized testing protocol.

A Democratic Process

What is important to note is the fact that the standard-setting process remains deliberately democratic. “No individual can drive the direction of a standard unilaterally,” he emphasizes. “You always need votes from other folks, and there are certain thresholds that need to be met.”

International standards require buy-in from at least five different countries before they can proceed. This multi-national oversight, combined with voting thresholds at various stages, ensures the final standard serves broad industry interests rather than any single manufacturer’s agenda.

Sweeney’s current task involves reviewing the first draft of the standard, which was submitted in May, with comments due by June 5th. His feedback focuses on ensuring the testing methodology aligns with available equipment. This approach makes the standard practical for manufacturers to implement.

Personal Stakes in Public Safety

“I’m so grateful that Optikos can have such a direct impact on something that is so critical in terms of keeping people safe on the road. That’s why I’m interested in building these standards up.”

— Kevin Sweeney, Product Line Manager at Optikos

Beyond the technical and bureaucratic dimensions, Sweeney is driven by what the standard ultimately protects: human lives.

“These are safety systems,” he says. “The feedback from these cameras is going to be used to trigger the cars’ active safety systems like automatic emergency braking, for instance. If you’re about to hit something, because you have the right device put in place, the car automatically slams on the brakes if it sees something on the road.”

The direct relationship between camera image quality and pedestrian safety gives the work weight beyond professional accomplishment. “I’m so grateful that Optikos can have such a direct impact on something that is so critical in terms of keeping people safe on the road,” he says. “That’s why I’m interested in building these standards up.”

Looking Ahead

Sweeney’s primary job now in this project is to navigate the complex layers of international standards development from ISO to national bodies like ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). But he sees this as an opportunity for his company to engage more deeply with the broader community.

“It’s great we’re starting to disseminate our hard-earned know-how with the larger transportation community,” he reflects. “I’m glad we’re making the change now to get out there and interact with these groups at a time when such testing rigor is called for.”

The road ahead remains challenging. With the standard deadline approaching and the US regulations looming simultaneously, there’s pressure to deliver a framework that works. But for Sweeney, the stakes justify the effort.

In a world increasingly dependent on machines to see what humans cannot, the standards governing those machines will determine the development of both technological capability and public trust in what engineers are building. That is why we need people like Sweeney to draw on his experience and shape the future of thermal camera testing for automotive applications.

Start working with engineering experts like Kevin Sweeney today. Connect with us at sales@Optikos.com to explore how Optikos can help you design, validate, and advance your automotive thermal‑imaging systems.

Heading to AutoSens USA 2026? Visit Optikos at Booth #326 to learn more about our automotive sensing capabilities and see our latest camera MTF and thermal testing demos in action.