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Musk would have you think it's a Lidar vs. cameras debate. It's not. It's a Lidar + cameras vs. just cameras debate. Lidar has significant shortcomings. So do c
by Fricken 8y ago
Musk would have you think it's a Lidar vs. cameras debate. It's not. It's a Lidar + cameras vs. just cameras debate. Lidar has significant shortcomings. So do cameras. But together they make for a decent perception system.
With regards to fleet learning, Tesla has been going on about it for years, but more data is not better. Better data is better. Clifornia's disengagement reports have seen criticism because they place an emphasis on the number of overall miles driven as a useful measure of progress, when actually it doesn't mean much. Companies like Zoox, after spending years doing small-scale closed course testing hit the ground running, and with only 10 vehicles and a few months of driving around San Fransisco they were able to take reporters for autonomous rides, and they took a couple dozen journalists to various pre-designated spots around SF with only one disengagement the whole day.
The nice thing about the whole fleet learning narrative is that is makes Tesla drivers feel like they're helping just by driving around.
- GeorgeTirebiter 8y agoThat's correct, it's lidar+cameras vs just cameras. But it should be RF + radar + sonar + lidar + cameras vs anything else. If the 737Max8 tells us anything, it's that one sensor just isn't enough. EM radiation from UV down to radio has different propagation characteristics, and materials form different attenuators. Radio easily passes through most non-metals with less attenuation than 400-800 THz radiation (light). When I was at Tesla, I tried like heck to get people to internalize this, but the 'cameras + one forward-looking radar is enough' crowd has clearly won. Heck, RF can shoot through mud, rain, sleet, and snow. Cameras? not so much. Although I agree that the number of 'RF pixels' one gets is nowhere near what a camera provides, it does provide some pixels when the cameras are covered in road muck. And what about when it's dark? Are the headlights going to provide enough light for the cameras to function well in all road conditions?
- Roritharr 8y agoYou were part of that discussion? What an amazing position to have been in history, even if it didn't go according to the way you felt (and imo probably are) was right.
- penny45 8y agoIt's a radar + cameras vs lidar + cameras debate. It sounds like radar + cameras > lidar + cameras
- Fricken 8y agoWell technically it's Lidar + Cameras + inertial measurement units + GPS + ultrasonic proximity sensors + Radar vs. all those things minus that one sensor that costs too much.