3 ms·

Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. It appears to me like

by rsp1984 10y ago

Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. It appears to me like this is a case that shows the limitations of stereo vision as the main sensor system guiding the Tesla autopilot. I would even venture to say that it could have possibly been avoided using LiDAR technology. According to various interviews however Elon Musk is not a big fan of LiDAR [1]: “I don’t think you need LIDAR. I think you can do this all with passive optical and then with maybe one forward RADAR,” Musk said during at a press conference in October. “I think that completely solves it without the use of LIDAR. I’m not a big fan of LIDAR, I don’t think it makes sense in this context.” [1] http://www.techinsider.io/difference-between-google-and-tesla-driverless-cars-2015-12 http://www.techinsider.io/difference-between-google-and-tesl...

mandevil 10y ago
LIDAR puts pretty severe limits on top speed. Basically, LIDAR has range limitations which means it can't detect anything further than <mumble mumble> away reliably (I last worked on a driving robot project a decade ago, forgot the exact distance). But the range, versus human-comfortable braking distance, works out to a top speed of roughly 30kph. Go faster and your car will detect the obstacle too late to avoid hitting it. Since Autopilot is trying to solve a problem at highway speeds (100kph+), I don't think it's a good fit for what Musk is trying to do. Now whether what Musk is trying to do is a good idea is a different question...
extrapickles 10y ago
LiDAR still has problems getting blinded by direct sunlight, which will swamp any optical sensor system that is safe to human eyes. Its possible to reduce the field of view affected by sunlight down to 0.5 degrees of the sky (the size of the sun), but for any practical system it will much larger than that.
rasz_pl 10y ago
what stereo vision? there is only one camera afaik

by rsp1984 10y ago

mandevil 10y ago

LIDAR puts pretty severe limits on top speed. Basically, LIDAR has range limitations which means it can't detect anything further than <mumble mumble> away reliably (I last worked on a driving robot project a decade ago, forgot the exact distance). But the range, versus human-comfortable braking distance, works out to a top speed of roughly 30kph. Go faster and your car will detect the obstacle too late to avoid hitting it. Since Autopilot is trying to solve a problem at highway speeds (100kph+), I don't think it's a good fit for what Musk is trying to do. Now whether what Musk is trying to do is a good idea is a different question...

extrapickles 10y ago

LiDAR still has problems getting blinded by direct sunlight, which will swamp any optical sensor system that is safe to human eyes. Its possible to reduce the field of view affected by sunlight down to 0.5 degrees of the sky (the size of the sun), but for any practical system it will much larger than that.

rasz_pl 10y ago

what stereo vision? there is only one camera afaik