An infrared camera assembly for a vehicle. The assembly includes: a vehicle component having a front surface; a shutterless far-infrared (FIR) camera mounted within the vehicle component, wherein the shutterless FIR camera is utilized to output at least one thermal video stream processed by the autonomous vehicle system; and a protective window disposed on at least a portion of the front surface of the vehicle component, where the protective window is positioned to be aligned with a lens of the FIR camera, so as to allow the shutterless FIR camera to capture images therethrough.