BMW tests next-gen LiDAR to beat Tesla to Level 3 self-driving cars::Tesla’s autonomous vehicle tech has been perennially stuck at Level 2 self-driving, as BMW and other rivals try to leapfrog to Level 3.
I’ve always thought that the Tesla craze would fizzle as major car brands start investing in EVs and self driving tech. I’ll take a Toyota, Volvo, Honda or BMW over a Tesla anytime.
Sadly Toyota is struggling to make a decent EV years after leading in hybrids. BMW on the other hand has insane efficiency
Still bizarre to me that Toyota had such a lead with hybrids and then went in on hydrogen and missed the boat on evs
They’ve made some incredible solid state battery leaps recently. For Japan hydrogen actually makes way more sense than a pure EV play too due to the way their grid(s) is set up and their power generation capacity. It’s their home market too so they are going to prioritise that.
The solid state press releases Toyota releases every once in a while do look incredible. It would be nice for them to demonstrate and deliver it though because I hope it’s not vaporware.
From what I’ve heard, they have a history of letting other companies trailblaze, and then they come in to refine and perfect tech afterward. They recently tried to be the trailblazer and bet on a losing tech. Hopefully now they are refining the ev game and will come out with something above and beyond what we’ve seen so far as per their old MO.
hopefully this will change soon, there’s some nifty shit on the horizon from Toyota, hope they meet expectations. https://www.inverse.com/tech/toyota-electric-car-600-mile-range-ev
I hate that the article opens with
Just a decade ago, the concept of self-driving cars might have seemed like something out of a science fiction movie
Ten years ago there was already a ton of competition in self driving car research. They were first legalized on the roads 10 years ago. Tesla autopilot (including it even though it was a scam) was sold 9 years ago. Google spun off its self driving car division as waymo in 2016.
This feels like one of those “bruh Zelda ocarina of time came out 29 years ago, we old” memes
Hell, Mercedes and Bosch were testing it all the way back in 1993:
Old Mercedes was insane. They really were the best or nothing
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=JTnBiTIvGqY
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And what happened though, was it unfilled hype or that death caused by that Uber autopilot? Back when waymo was grabbing headlines you would’ve thought we’d be a lot closer to driver less by now.
My understanding was that the challenge in making the next leap in self driving was not based in hardware (detecting objects with cameras vs LiDAR), but in software. As in, it isn’t as difficult to detect the presence of objects as it is to make consistent and safe decisions based on that information.
But using LIDAR, you increase your data’s accuracy and dimensionality, giving you more options to play with. It probably won’t be a game changer, but it may be better than a camera only system.
Gathering more data, and being able to process it seems obvious as a way forward. How much better is this “new” LIDAR?
Edit: seems Tesla cars doesn’t even use LIDAR…
They did. And every other competitor does. Musk believes since humans can drive with only two eyes that cars should be able to as well. Maybe someday, but nowhere in the near future. Cameras miss too much and are easily blinded.
It’s also really stupid because the idea is to create a system that’s better than humans. And let me tell you, people miss stuff all the time when driving. Tons and tons of accidents are caused by “negligent” drivers who looked both ways and missed someone due to a visual processing error or literally not being able to see something.
That’s not necessarily true. What you get is two separate things inputting raw data into a system that both need to be parsed. Sometimes, one won’t agree with the other and can cause issues with how the car thinks it should respond.
Nobody has a fully working system at this point, so it’s premature to make claims about what hardware is and isn’t needed. It may very well be that LIDAR is a requirement, but until somebody figures it out, we’re all just speculating.
You can, today, download an app and go ride in a self-driving car around multiple US cities. All of those cars use LIDARs. Sensor disagreement is not a major issue because sensor fusion is a very well-understood topic.
Yes but they geofenced those cars into areas with the most optimal conditions for autonomous driving. What happens when you take the car on the freeway, a suburban neighborhood, or a mountain pass?
This will probably be under monthly subscription
“The route you selected contains a highway. Please purchase the Highway Driving Pack in addition to your City Driving Pack to reach your destination”
GM has had supercruise under subscription service for forever.
The goal is than no one owns anything anymore. Every company is after the sweet sweet recurring revenue.
Sample pricing for BMW self-driving add-on feature:
98% accuracy in obstacle avoidance - $299/mo.
85% accuracy in obstacle avoidance - $199/mo.
75% accuracy in obstacle avoidance (lowest legal limit!) - $99/mo.disclaimer: BMW cannot guarantee 100% accuracy in accuracy rates
Another possibility.
Unlimited* crash avoidance instances - $299.99/mo
10 crash avoidance instances - $199.99/mo
5 crash avoidance instances - $99.99/mo
*crash avoidance may be limited during peak hours and times of congestion. After 12 crash avoidance instances, feature may be disabled without notice due to abuse of the system. All sales are final and minimum 5 year contract required. Price may increase at any time without notice
At the hospital after you crash: dammit I forgot to set up autopay
Self driving cars are great and all, but can we get someone seriously working on alternative fuels? EV is really pretty unsustainable. All the resources going to build batteries that are unrecycleable is a massive waste in my opinion. And the unless something drastic changes, the ranges that are needed for logistics and America aren’t going to ultimately fix anything.
If they can create an alternative fuel that is significantly less polluting, or figure out how to make hydrogen less explody, the existing infrastructure worldwide of gas stations can still be efficiently used. And hopefully there will be a to retrofit existing vehicles to use this alternatives.
batteries that are unrecycleable
Is this actually the case?
My understanding is that EV batteries are actually very recyclable, up to 90%. I imagine it’s more labor intensive than your conventional lead-acid batteries though.
I mean, shouldn’t we be working on both? Just because they’re working on one, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working on the other.
They also are working on alternative fuels in a big way. Japan have made some incredible leaps with hydrogen/ammonia based production and fuels, and solid state batteries are looking to be pretty game changing. The EU also included a huge budget to invest in green fuels research (likely because of automotive companies lobbying for it) so plenty is being done. Even if EVs aren’t the best currently, increasing the size of the market for them will continue to create investments in serving those markets more efficiently, so we absolutely should keep investing in both.
I’m not an expert or anything, but I doubt we’ll see a price-competitive synthetic fuel in the time it takes for renewables to become the standard. Renewable electricity gets cheaper as more panels and turbines are built, so it makes some economical sense too.
I think we should NOT allow self driving cars.
> but but muh autopilot in planes
No! Planes are inherently safer to fly than it is to drive cars. Planes have much more room and degree of freedom to maneuver. They are also monitored by air traffic control and the pilots are supposed to be highly trained and fit. Cars are restricted to one plane (heh) and any two bit yokel with stroke-diabeetus-fetal alcohol syndrome from Bumfuck Florida can get a license to drive a car. You can’t pull up or dive in a car more than once.
> buh buh buh make every car automated
You just reinvented the train.
My favorite part of a train is the part where it drops you off right at your door.
