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They built the most expensive solution (significant dependence on LIDAR) that scales the poorest (requires centimeter-precision 3D mapping of every street it dr
by ocdtrekkie 6y ago
They built the most expensive solution (significant dependence on LIDAR) that scales the poorest (requires centimeter-precision 3D mapping of every street it drives on). Google Maps cars would need to do significantly more than they already do today on an even wider scale, and to be profitable it'd likely have to inundate you with ads on top of being the most expensive service.
...Meanwhile, the ADAS in many new consumer cars can pretty much drive itself already.
Waymo has to convince you their way is the "only" way to do self-driving cars, because nobody in their right mind would chose their solution otherwise.
- ra7 6y ago> ...Meanwhile, the ADAS in many new consumer cars can pretty much drive itself already. Yeah, not really. "Pretty much" drives itself isn't a thing. It either drives itself or it doesn't. Which ADAS system allows me to sit in the back seat while it drives itself fully? > Waymo has to convince you their way is the "only" way to do self-driving cars, because nobody in their right mind would chose their solution otherwise. Considering every self driving car company except Tesla (maybe MobileEye but even they have backup LIDAR systems) uses the exact same approach as Waymo, this is way off the mark.
- rumham 6y agoConvince me the customer? Why would I care how they do it as long as it works?
- mupuff1234 6y agoThere's no inherit reason why lidar can't be cheap afaik (and it's already getting there - prices are dropping pretty rapidly).
- cobookman 6y agoThe cost of manufacturing 10,000 lidar units is much different than the cost/unit for a batch of 10,000,000 units. Just look at EVs and the drop in battery cost over the years. Lidar being cheap at scale is just a matter of when, not if.