4 ms·

> but just the equipment they need to keep cameras and lidars without snow either costs an extra fortune Sorry if I'm being ignorant (where I live, below 20°C

• alkonaut 9y ago
  I’m not sure what would be required (currently few manufacturers get this right). Heaters take a long time to clear ice when starting if the car has a lot of snow and ice on it. VW has a good solution for their rear camera which is actually hidden under a hatch (the VW emblem) so it’s protected when unused. I’m picturing that future autonomous cars will need this type of solution for many sensors, similar to the “flip up headlights” of some 80s cars. Not least because lidars are also very expensive so you may not want them easy to grab from a parked car.
• Piskvorrr 9y ago
  Not under current paradigm "go to car, start it up, [wait 15 minutes for sensors to unfreeze], go." Might be viable if the cars are 1.shared and 2.at high % of utilization (in other words, the car is never frozen). Of course, in mountainous winter, I've had wiper fluid freeze when it got to the windshield of a warmed up, running, moving car - had to stop and scrape off what was essentially a rubbing alcohol solution: even heating wouldn't help when local temperature goes to -40 (either scale ;)).