The new ways of driving and use a vehicle as expected in the scope of Smart Mobility asks for reliable and affordable versatile perception systems. Perception systems need to be accurate and reliable both for what happen in the cabin and out of the cabin. The driver and passenger monitoring needs to be improved as well as the environment surrounding monitoring, in all light and weather conditions. For both of these topics, the extension of current perception systems (mainly based on visible imaging, LIDAR and RADAR detection) to the thermal sensing is a must. Thermal sensing, especially in the LWIR (= 6 to 14 µm) bandwidth, provides valuable additional information and has to be considered as a must for the next generation of L4 (‘’Eyes off’’) and L5 (‘’Mind off’’) autonomous driving. In this context, the HELIAUS project aims to deliver breakthrough perception systems for in-cabin passengers monitoring, as well as for the car surrounding by developing smart thermal perception systems that extend the current systems to the LWIR bandwidth.