3 ms·

It's pretty cool that it can be done on the cheap, though. I imagine a lot of people would be willing to pay a couple hundred dollars to retrofit their car to g

It's pretty cool that it can be done on the cheap, though. I imagine a lot of people would be willing to pay a couple hundred dollars to retrofit their car to get autosteer alongside their cruise control feature. Small personal example: my family lives out in the suburbs. My dad works in a neighboring city. His commute is about a half hour, 20 minutes of which is a straight shot on a major highway. I'm sure he'd be willing to pay a few hundred to reclaim that 20 minutes each way to read a book/the newspaper, check his email, browse the internet, etc. It'd also be good for road trips.

Splines 11y ago
I don't know if I'd be comfortable completely giving up control to a driving computer, even on a straight highway. I am totally for a computer telling me when I'm driving dangerously because I'm distracted or tired.
cmontella 11y ago
On the "cheap" relatively. The sensor he uses on the top of the car alone costs $8000. If you want to do it right, you'd also need a really nice IMU system to... I'm not sure what he's using but they can get very pricey.
- darkmighty 11y ago
  Do you have a link for the best (commercial) IMUs around/how much they cost? I'm curious -- are they just clusters of MEMs like the ones on a phone or something more advanced, like interferometry based?
  - cmontella 11y ago
    I haven't paid attention to IMUs in a while. Here is one that I had some experience with in grad school: http://www.oxts.com/inertial-interface-to-navcoms-sf-3050/ http://www.oxts.com/inertial-interface-to-navcoms-sf-3050/
  - RogerL 11y ago
    Define "best". We've used a quarter million dollar one at my current company, and at a previous job we spent far, far more than that for military airframes. Groves "Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Navigation Systems" contains a good description of the various technologies used and their accuracy limits for navigation. Consumer grade MEMS are fine for airbags, the pedometer in your phone, but are not sufficient for intertial navigation, even when aided with other sources. At around the $2K-30K you get systems that can provide accurate navigation for up to 2 minutes or so. They are used in things like missiles. Aviation grade IMUs need to meet SNU 84 standard, which requires a maximum horizontal position drift of 1.5km in the first hour of operation. These will run 100K and up. Marine grade (subs, rockets, ICBMs) run $1 million and up, and have a maximum drift of 1.8km per day. None of them are good enough for autonomous cars w/o sensor fusion.
Johnny555 11y ago
I certainly wouldn't want to add amateur autosteer to my car, or accept the responsibility that comes from hacking my own self-driving car. The big manufacturers will accept liability for their systems -- build your own (or hack a factory system), and you're on your own, personal auto insurance may not even cover you since you weren't driving.
nradov 11y ago
Even when the technology for self-driving cars is developed well enough for widespread use, it won't be practical or cost-effective to retrofit existing vehicles. By the time you strip everything down, cut holes, install sensors, run cables, etc it will be cheaper to just buy a new car.

Splines 11y ago

I don't know if I'd be comfortable completely giving up control to a driving computer, even on a straight highway. I am totally for a computer telling me when I'm driving dangerously because I'm distracted or tired.

cmontella 11y ago

On the "cheap" relatively. The sensor he uses on the top of the car alone costs $8000. If you want to do it right, you'd also need a really nice IMU system to... I'm not sure what he's using but they can get very pricey.

darkmighty 11y ago
Do you have a link for the best (commercial) IMUs around/how much they cost? I'm curious -- are they just clusters of MEMs like the ones on a phone or something more advanced, like interferometry based?
- cmontella 11y ago
  I haven't paid attention to IMUs in a while. Here is one that I had some experience with in grad school: http://www.oxts.com/inertial-interface-to-navcoms-sf-3050/ http://www.oxts.com/inertial-interface-to-navcoms-sf-3050/
- RogerL 11y ago
  Define "best". We've used a quarter million dollar one at my current company, and at a previous job we spent far, far more than that for military airframes. Groves "Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Navigation Systems" contains a good description of the various technologies used and their accuracy limits for navigation. Consumer grade MEMS are fine for airbags, the pedometer in your phone, but are not sufficient for intertial navigation, even when aided with other sources. At around the $2K-30K you get systems that can provide accurate navigation for up to 2 minutes or so. They are used in things like missiles. Aviation grade IMUs need to meet SNU 84 standard, which requires a maximum horizontal position drift of 1.5km in the first hour of operation. These will run 100K and up. Marine grade (subs, rockets, ICBMs) run $1 million and up, and have a maximum drift of 1.8km per day. None of them are good enough for autonomous cars w/o sensor fusion.

Johnny555 11y ago

I certainly wouldn't want to add amateur autosteer to my car, or accept the responsibility that comes from hacking my own self-driving car. The big manufacturers will accept liability for their systems -- build your own (or hack a factory system), and you're on your own, personal auto insurance may not even cover you since you weren't driving.

nradov 11y ago

Even when the technology for self-driving cars is developed well enough for widespread use, it won't be practical or cost-effective to retrofit existing vehicles. By the time you strip everything down, cut holes, install sensors, run cables, etc it will be cheaper to just buy a new car.