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Computers have one huge advantage over humans: they can process a lot of information very quickly. Humans have one huge advantage over computers: we pattern-ma

Computers have one huge advantage over humans: they can process a lot of information very quickly. Humans have one huge advantage over computers: we pattern-match instinctually, building mental models of our surroundings. Tesla is taking advantage of the first fact, but by avoiding LIDAR, they're falling victim to the second fact. We humans don't have LIDAR, so it makes sense that a car without LIDAR should be able to match us, but we have brains and visual systems that far exceed anything available today or at any point in the near future when it comes to pattern-matching. 40,100 vehicle deaths in 2017 in the US, most of them the result of distracted driving. It's a shame that Tesla's system performs worst at exactly the point that humans need the most help.

MarkMMullin 8y ago
LIDAR is certainly useful in building up point clouds, especially when coupled with RADAR, however the devil always lies in the details LIDAR is higher resolution than radar, but often slower - counterintuitive to be sure, but such is the case - i.e. this large volume of data can lag reality by some small delta, and at 60MPH, that can add up. Uber does use LIDAR and RADAR, however the informed external commentary I've seen, admittedly guesswork based on the NTSB reports seems to indicate it was a fusion error behind the AZ fatality. Sensor fusion is a beastly complex problem on top of miserable calibration exercises :-( More importantly, AI only exists in the minds of marketers, media, and the improperly informed. This is all just pattern recognition - we're a ways off from having a system understand that if an occluding obstacle moves out of the way, then high priority previous unknown information now exposed needs to be checked. I'm sure such tests will get hardwired into current systems, however the system is then limited by what does get hardwired into it. At the end of the day a visual system, no matter how sophisticated is still only a visual system.

MarkMMullin 8y ago

LIDAR is certainly useful in building up point clouds, especially when coupled with RADAR, however the devil always lies in the details LIDAR is higher resolution than radar, but often slower - counterintuitive to be sure, but such is the case - i.e. this large volume of data can lag reality by some small delta, and at 60MPH, that can add up. Uber does use LIDAR and RADAR, however the informed external commentary I've seen, admittedly guesswork based on the NTSB reports seems to indicate it was a fusion error behind the AZ fatality. Sensor fusion is a beastly complex problem on top of miserable calibration exercises :-( More importantly, AI only exists in the minds of marketers, media, and the improperly informed. This is all just pattern recognition - we're a ways off from having a system understand that if an occluding obstacle moves out of the way, then high priority previous unknown information now exposed needs to be checked. I'm sure such tests will get hardwired into current systems, however the system is then limited by what does get hardwired into it. At the end of the day a visual system, no matter how sophisticated is still only a visual system.