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I watched the video, the Wile E. Coyote fake wall stuff is a gimmick meant to draw kids in. That, however, par for the course of his videos; they are designed

I watched the video, the Wile E. Coyote fake wall stuff is a gimmick meant to draw kids in. That, however, par for the course of his videos; they are designed to hook kids into engineering with silly things and secretly teach real engineering before getting to the punch line. In this case the real engineering is that Tesla's choice of relying on only visual camera has fundamental issues that can not be solved with cameras only. Namely, visually blocking elements, such as heavy rain, fog, or even blinding lights just pretty much can not be solved by camera-only sensors. (though I guess one "solution" would be for the system to say I can't see enough to drive, so I'm not going to, but then no one would buy the system)

nashashmi 2y ago
It is also a promotion for Lidar tech, Telling future engineers to be cautious of camera vision-only driving systems. I agree with Mark. But not because of the tests he intentionally created to make Lidar look better. I really do hope camera only tech will do better than this. But I also hope that lidar technology will eventually make it better. Right now , LIDAR needs much heavier computing power to be reasonably powerful.
- _aavaa_ 2y ago
  Fog and heavy rain are not “tests he intentionally created to make Lidar look better.”
  - nashashmi 2y ago
    The extreme fog and heavy rain are dramatic conditions that no existing driver can navigate within. These conditions make a strong case for involving advanced tech, i.e. a better LiDAR. And that is what happened here: a scenario that no driver without assisted tools can pass, and neither can a Tesla. Do you remember when Tesla had radar? The idea was brilliant at a time when LiDAR tech was difficult to get en masse. Radar plus camera does what LiDAR could do at lower computing powers.
    - jjav 2y ago
      > The extreme fog and heavy rain are dramatic conditions that no existing driver can navigate within. Yes, humans can (I have) driven in extreme rain or fog where one can barely see one car length ahead. How? Simply by slowing down until you can see a few seconds ahead so there's time to stop if anything shows up in the field of (very limited) view. The tesla software just continued at constant speed even though it couldn't see anything, completely oblivious. That's the difference between a human driver and bad software.
      - nashashmi 2y ago
        That is an additional driving logic: if you can’t see in front of you, stop driving. But the test here was to avoid hitting the mannequin. In that perspective, the only form of evaluation is cam vs. lidar tech. The software is only as good as the human who programmed it.
  - thefourthchime 2y ago
    It wasn't fog, it was smoke. Lighters can't see through fog well
Gigachad 2y ago
A human driver would at least (usually) recognise that there’s poor visibility and slow down. While Tesla autopilot finds it acceptable to go full speed through and obliterate a child.

nashashmi 2y ago

It is also a promotion for Lidar tech, Telling future engineers to be cautious of camera vision-only driving systems. I agree with Mark. But not because of the tests he intentionally created to make Lidar look better. I really do hope camera only tech will do better than this. But I also hope that lidar technology will eventually make it better. Right now , LIDAR needs much heavier computing power to be reasonably powerful.

_aavaa_ 2y ago
Fog and heavy rain are not “tests he intentionally created to make Lidar look better.”
- nashashmi 2y ago
  The extreme fog and heavy rain are dramatic conditions that no existing driver can navigate within. These conditions make a strong case for involving advanced tech, i.e. a better LiDAR. And that is what happened here: a scenario that no driver without assisted tools can pass, and neither can a Tesla. Do you remember when Tesla had radar? The idea was brilliant at a time when LiDAR tech was difficult to get en masse. Radar plus camera does what LiDAR could do at lower computing powers.
  - jjav 2y ago
    > The extreme fog and heavy rain are dramatic conditions that no existing driver can navigate within. Yes, humans can (I have) driven in extreme rain or fog where one can barely see one car length ahead. How? Simply by slowing down until you can see a few seconds ahead so there's time to stop if anything shows up in the field of (very limited) view. The tesla software just continued at constant speed even though it couldn't see anything, completely oblivious. That's the difference between a human driver and bad software.
    - nashashmi 2y ago
      That is an additional driving logic: if you can’t see in front of you, stop driving. But the test here was to avoid hitting the mannequin. In that perspective, the only form of evaluation is cam vs. lidar tech. The software is only as good as the human who programmed it.
- thefourthchime 2y ago
  It wasn't fog, it was smoke. Lighters can't see through fog well

Gigachad 2y ago

A human driver would at least (usually) recognise that there’s poor visibility and slow down. While Tesla autopilot finds it acceptable to go full speed through and obliterate a child.