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This is the way Google does it as well, and in my opinion is a fundamental architectural failure. There's a reason after several years Google still has tested
by jayjay71 10y ago
This is the way Google does it as well, and in my opinion is a fundamental architectural failure. There's a reason after several years Google still has tested in so few locations.
Delphi has a more robust system (in theory), but the accuracy isn't quite as good. To the best of my knowledge Ford is also taking a different approach which doesn't depend on super-detailed maps to operate. The technology to compare the surroundings against a map is far easier than figuring out the surroundings and then navigating within that (not to trivialize this - both are extraordinarily difficult and nobody has made a fully self-driving car yet).
But hey, like they always say in YC - do things that don't scale. Uber is clearly pushing ahead faster than anyone else, and they have a hell of a team behind this project.
Regarding bridges - to oversimplify the simple answer is they're far noisier for the sensors (all of them, including cameras) and it just wreaks havoc on the sensor fusion system.
- Retric 10y agoYou could drive down every road in the US for under 10 million dollars. So as long as you can keep them updated I don't think highly detailed maps are a problem. Especially if this is supposed to be a backup for GPS.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoThere were 4 million miles of road in the USA in 2013. Sure you could drive them - but drive them in a special sensor-equipped vehicle? In a fleet of such vehicles? In a reasonable time? Its a big job, and $2.50 a mile seems pretty low.
- Retric 10y ago2.50$ is more than double what trucking costs per mile that should cover every lane mile at normal speeds. Now building 100 cars with this equipment is not going to be free, but trucks also burn far more fuel. Anyway, you doing this is hard, for a multi billion dollar per quarter company it's pocket change.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoAdd in hiring, benefits, vehicle transport and repair, sanitizing the data, hiring managers to manage the folks that do all that... any large project is unexpectedly expensive. Still point taken that its just millions.
- wavefunction 10y ago"benefits" This is Uber we're talking about.
- linkregister 10y agoThe drivers of the fancy LIDAR vehicles are direct hires: https://www.uber.com/careers/list/20169/ https://www.uber.com/careers/list/20169/
- potatolicious 10y ago> "Sure you could drive them - but drive them in a special sensor-equipped vehicle?" Street view already did it... Not 100% coverage to be sure, but pretty darned close.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoAny idea what that cost them?
- jayjay71 10y agoThe maps Google uses for their self-driving cars, as I understand it, require constant maintenance. Also just the amount of data is huge. If this weren't the case, surely they would have driven in many other places by now? I would actually love for someone who works at Google to chime in here. It'd be great to find out their system is more robust than I think it is.
- Retric 10y agoI think they could do it every week, compared to the value of completely self driving cars. Especially if they get say UPS to add sensors to their trucks. The post office does something similar every single day.
- danielweber 10y agoEvery self-driving car on the road is automatically remapping everything. Any discrepancies, like a new pothole or a disappearing tree, can be reported to the mothership for resolution and pushing out to all the other cars in the area.
- rayiner 10y agoConsidering how often GPS gets confused here in DC, I'm amazed we are suggesting relying on it to drive the car.
- Retric 10y agoThey are using it for navigation not lane following. You can supplement GPS with dead reckoning for tunnels etc, but high quality maps let's a car be aware of landmarks and then use them to figure out where in the world they are. EX: With enough precision there is plenty of information in the picture to figure out where it's located. http://socialforest.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Forest-Green-Wallpaper.jpg http://socialforest.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Forest-Gr...
- TheCoelacanth 10y agoConsidering how often human drivers get confused here in DC, I'm amazed that we rely on them to drive cars.
- Qworg 10y agoHow did you get to this number? I'm familiar with a few "map the world" efforts, and this seems an order of magnitude too small. I'd love to hear about a breakthrough.
- argonaut 10y ago"Fundamental architectural failure" is a very bold claim to make given that absolutely no other approaches have worked as well as Google's for urban driving.
- jayjay71 10y agoHow do you know that? There hasn't been a competition since 2007, and that was before Google was involved.
- argonaut 10y ago* That we know of. Tesla et al. have not publicized urban driving videos/examples, so I'm assuming they're not capable of it as well as Google, right now.
- jayjay71 10y agohttps://www.wired.com/2015/04/delphi-autonomous-car-cross-country/ https://www.wired.com/2015/04/delphi-autonomous-car-cross-co...
- argonaut 10y agoThat article has 0 information about Delphi's approach. In fact, the Delphi car has LIDAR too. For all we know they could be taking Google/Uber's approach.
- jayjay71 10y agoI used to work on this - the approach is very different. That's a pretty hollow statement on the internet though, so take it as you will. An interesting aside - it seems like most of Google's team left this year. Chris Urmson left, Anthony Levandowski left, and many of their engineers are gone as well (many went to Otto). It'll be interesting to see what happens now that they've lost all of the original leadership (Sebastian Thrun left long ago).