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Do current self-driving systems use vision as ground truth about the presence of things like stop signs? I would hope that the cameras would be used to augment

by idreyn 10y ago

Do current self-driving systems use vision as ground truth about the presence of things like stop signs? I would hope that the cameras would be used to augment and perhaps feed back into a street map with this information, and that cars would come to a stop at ambiguous intersections.

tintor 10y ago
You definitely can't expect map data to be reliable enough to be the only source of truth for something as important as stop signs.
- PeterisP 10y ago
  Yeah, but these can definitely be used as complementary sources - with proper integration, they'd match almost always, but all mismatches seem like you should assume that the sign is there; e.g. if a sign is in map but not in DB, then it's likely the sign is obscured by something but still should be followed; and if there is a sign in vision but not in DB, then it's likely to be part of some temporary road works. The scenarios where the sign truly "isn't" there are possible, but comparably much more rare.
Cyphase 10y ago
Potentially they could also just watch for cars on visible cross-streets; even in otherwise ideal conditions, it would be good if your autonomous car didn't keep going when it has the right of way if it can see a car about to barrel through a stoplight from the side.
- kaspm 10y ago
  This brings up a point I've thought about quite a bit with autonomous vehicles. I studied transportation planning in college and one of the tenants is that human drivers are on a spectrum between aggressive and conservative about finding efficiencies in high traffic situations. The canonical example is that if a lane next to you is going significantly faster, an aggressive driver will perform a (relatively) unsafe maneuver to cut off drivers in the faster lane and change lanes. IIRC, significant research has been performed to identify whether the resulting lane change is net positive (frees space in the slower lane) or net negative (causes cut off car to slow down). If autonomous vehicles prioritize safety over efficiency by stopping if there's an ambiguous intersection, will that have a net negative effect on traffic while all these self-driving cars slow down for each other.
  - Cyphase 10y ago
    s/tenants/tenets/g :)
  - bananarepdev 10y ago
    Couldn't this kind of problem be mitigated by some form of coordination between vehicles? I think a fully automated fleet would have an overall net positive effect, due to, for example, improving the reaction time to traffic lights (or eliminating them altogether).

by idreyn 10y ago

tintor 10y ago

You definitely can't expect map data to be reliable enough to be the only source of truth for something as important as stop signs.

PeterisP 10y ago
Yeah, but these can definitely be used as complementary sources - with proper integration, they'd match almost always, but all mismatches seem like you should assume that the sign is there; e.g. if a sign is in map but not in DB, then it's likely the sign is obscured by something but still should be followed; and if there is a sign in vision but not in DB, then it's likely to be part of some temporary road works. The scenarios where the sign truly "isn't" there are possible, but comparably much more rare.

Cyphase 10y ago

Potentially they could also just watch for cars on visible cross-streets; even in otherwise ideal conditions, it would be good if your autonomous car didn't keep going when it has the right of way if it can see a car about to barrel through a stoplight from the side.

kaspm 10y ago
This brings up a point I've thought about quite a bit with autonomous vehicles. I studied transportation planning in college and one of the tenants is that human drivers are on a spectrum between aggressive and conservative about finding efficiencies in high traffic situations. The canonical example is that if a lane next to you is going significantly faster, an aggressive driver will perform a (relatively) unsafe maneuver to cut off drivers in the faster lane and change lanes. IIRC, significant research has been performed to identify whether the resulting lane change is net positive (frees space in the slower lane) or net negative (causes cut off car to slow down). If autonomous vehicles prioritize safety over efficiency by stopping if there's an ambiguous intersection, will that have a net negative effect on traffic while all these self-driving cars slow down for each other.
- Cyphase 10y ago
  s/tenants/tenets/g :)
- bananarepdev 10y ago
  Couldn't this kind of problem be mitigated by some form of coordination between vehicles? I think a fully automated fleet would have an overall net positive effect, due to, for example, improving the reaction time to traffic lights (or eliminating them altogether).