5 ms·

It's not a problem at night. It's a problem during the day, when everything is washed out. The lidar can still see something there, but not how far away it is

It's not a problem at night. It's a problem during the day, when everything is washed out. The lidar can still see something there, but not how far away it is.

macintux 9y ago
Ok. Still not remotely good.
- hwillis 9y ago
  Note that it's a matte black car problem. Shiny black cars are visible. It's also not a problem at short distances, or if there are significant parts of the car that are visible. It's a similar thing to not being able to see men carrying a glass windowpane. It's a somewhat niche problem.
  - Neliquat 9y ago
    As the owner of a flat black car, I feel strongly about this 'niche'.
    - hwillis 9y ago
      Glass is probably a bigger issue- take glass storefronts and glass bus stops. Niches are still important, but there are a hundred other problems of this level that also need to be solved. This problem is not particularly more important than any other, but I don't mean it's unimportant.
  - CamperBob2 9y ago
    LIDAR is not the only sensor input that self-driving cars will need to operate safely. Cars (on the road anyway) will be warm enough to show up on passive IR cameras. Their tires alone should emit enough heat to detect. Parked cars, on the other hand, may be a tougher challenge. If I were building a self-driving car, my nightmare scenario would probably be a tire lying in the middle of the road, or a piece of matte-textured furniture.
    - tyingq 9y ago
      A big rolling tire, complete with wheel, once was hurdling towards me on the highway. I honked the horn at it. Thankfully, it missed me despite that brilliant decision.
wyldfire 9y ago
I'd speculate that the biggest hazard would be a stationary object (tire in the road). If so, pedestrians crossing traffic seem less likely to cause problems.
- hwillis 9y ago
  That would show up as a kind of "hole" in the road. Clever software would be required to see it as a danger.
  - sriram_sun 9y ago
    Isn't the asphalt (without lane markings) black as well? How does it recognize a black object in a black background? I don't see it showing up as a hole in that scenario.
    - hwillis 9y ago
      aslphalt is a few times more reflective than rubber

It's not a problem at night. It's a problem during the day, when everything is washed out. The lidar can still see something there, but not how far away it is.

macintux 9y ago

Ok. Still not remotely good.

hwillis 9y ago
Note that it's a matte black car problem. Shiny black cars are visible. It's also not a problem at short distances, or if there are significant parts of the car that are visible. It's a similar thing to not being able to see men carrying a glass windowpane. It's a somewhat niche problem.
- Neliquat 9y ago
  As the owner of a flat black car, I feel strongly about this 'niche'.
  - hwillis 9y ago
    Glass is probably a bigger issue- take glass storefronts and glass bus stops. Niches are still important, but there are a hundred other problems of this level that also need to be solved. This problem is not particularly more important than any other, but I don't mean it's unimportant.
- CamperBob2 9y ago
  LIDAR is not the only sensor input that self-driving cars will need to operate safely. Cars (on the road anyway) will be warm enough to show up on passive IR cameras. Their tires alone should emit enough heat to detect. Parked cars, on the other hand, may be a tougher challenge. If I were building a self-driving car, my nightmare scenario would probably be a tire lying in the middle of the road, or a piece of matte-textured furniture.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    A big rolling tire, complete with wheel, once was hurdling towards me on the highway. I honked the horn at it. Thankfully, it missed me despite that brilliant decision.

wyldfire 9y ago

I'd speculate that the biggest hazard would be a stationary object (tire in the road). If so, pedestrians crossing traffic seem less likely to cause problems.

hwillis 9y ago
That would show up as a kind of "hole" in the road. Clever software would be required to see it as a danger.
- sriram_sun 9y ago
  Isn't the asphalt (without lane markings) black as well? How does it recognize a black object in a black background? I don't see it showing up as a hole in that scenario.
  - hwillis 9y ago
    aslphalt is a few times more reflective than rubber