Longwave LIDAR burns out camera sensor -- a big problem in the making?
Submitted by brad on Fri, 2019-01-25 12:36
The future of computer-driven cars and deliverbots
We continue to see lots of reports of a "pull back" on robocars, a "winter" of sorts. It is often presented as "the problem was harder than people expected" I discussed some of this in the prelude to my 2018 year in review.
My feet are aching, as usual, after 3 days on the CES show floor, and the question people always ask others there is "what have you seen that was interesting?"
I'm on my way to CES tonight, and am surprised to have not seen much robocar news yet from there. I'll publish some reports of what I see. The first modest announcement is the creation of a public education collective called PAVE which is the first consortium to have almost all the major players.
As I posted earlier I purchased a Tesla Model 3, the mid-range version with one motor and autopilot.
There are many reviews of this car out there, so I will go quickly over the common issues to get to areas I can give a special perspective on.
A frequent theme of mine has been my identification of "proving you have done it" as the greatest challenge in producing a safe robocar.
By coincidence we see two significant announcements today from people who were former leaders on the Google car project, now in their own companies.
Some news items, and then some analysis of the energy needed to reposition and charge all the dockless scooters from Lime and Bird.
Waymo announced today they will begin commercial operations in the Phoenix area under the name "Waymo One." Waymo has promised that it would happen this year, and it is a huge milestone, but I can't avoid a small bit of disappointment.
How and where we live is governed most by transportation, and all the new mobility technologies are poised to cause big changes. Today, I want to look at the following technologies and how they will affect life outside the city. In many case, they will come last to the country, but in other cases, they may come first.
Everybody here is in shock over the destruction and death from the recent California fires, and I, like many, have even fled the coast for the mountains as the air in the San Francisco Bay area remains unsafe. Videos of people escaping down burning streets send chills into those who watch them.
Earlier this year this nice summary of LIDAR companies was published. While it misses a few projects, I recommend it as a nice visual overview of the many LIDAR technologies in production and under development.
A Washington Post article suggests robotaxis may become popular for sex on wheels. In my talks I have often made the joke that while the auto industry quests for "Vision Zero" -- no automotive fatalities -- the robocar is the only technology that could result in people actually being created while driving.
reported earlier, Uber released a series of documents detailing safety strategy. It's their effort to restore their image in the world and get back on the road.
This weekend, Uber released a long and detailed "safety report" with some of their learnings and new plans after their fatal error. I have not had time to read it all yet due to travel, and will offer more detailed comments later.
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