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Comment by TheLoneAdmin | Hacker News Reader

Makes me wonder about the future of self-driving cars. I would think that the first thing that should be programmed in is to not run into objects that are not moving.

IMO, maybe the roads need to be certified for self-driving. Dangerous areas would be properly painted to prevent recognition errors. Every self-driving system would need to query some database to see if a road is certified. If not, the self-driving system safely disengages.

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Tesla claims their cars have all the hardware required for full self-driving, but their cars do not have LIDAR. Every serious self-driving outfit understands LIDAR to be necessary. Tesla's marketing department would have people believe otherwise of course.

Exactly. I think a LIDAR could see the obstacle in this case.

You are correct. Built an autonomous car in 2007 that wouldn't hit that wall.

Were you using the Velodyne 64s?

Cruise, who uses the 32 laser velodynes avoids highway/freeway speeds because their lidar doesn't have the range to reliably detect obstacles at that distance.

SICK LMS 2xx. Weakest link was the java microcontrollers we had to use because we were majority funded by SUN. My favorite part was the old elevator relays we found in a junkyard and used for a bunch of the control system. You could hear the car 'thinking' and know what it was about to do.

I'm involved in a project using the LMS5xx.. but on a PLC, so I envy your Java microcontroller! Have you seen SICK's new MRS 6000? Range of 200 m, and 15 degrees vertical (15 degrees)! Pricing is similar to LMS5xx.

I've been out of the space for nearly 10 years. Just checked out that MRS6000 thats amazing.

>Makes me wonder about the future of self-driving cars. I would think that the first thing that should be programmed in is to not run into objects that are not moving.

My understanding is that Telsa's autopilot is pretty different from other more mature self-driving car projects. I wouldn't read too much into it.

This is a Tesla issue. Waymo uses Lidar and most likely won't run into walls.

I don't know that the issue is LIDAR, but rather distinguishing a stationary object in front from stationary objects to the side.

Does Uber use LIDAR?

Well, "uses": it seems that in the case of E.H., the lidar was there but its output was discarded in the end.

I wonder if we'll see it speed-limited. For commutes, if my time is freed up to read/work, then I don't need to be going 70 mph. If I'm travelling across a continent overnight, the gain I'd get from 10+ autonomous hours overnight would beat having to rush when driving personally.

And I agree with certified roads. But even then, if a truck drops cargo in the middle of the lane, you'd want to be in a car that can detect something sitting still in front of you.

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