Hacker News Reader

Until I read this article, I thought that the all-optical adaptive cruise control system of my BMW i3 was clearly inferior to modern radar-based gear. I now see at least one use case -- stationary objects -- where the i3 setup has an edge. (But the i3 setup suffers mightily in low-contrast and low-sun-angle scenarios.)

View on HN

And Tesla's Model 3 has optical cameras too, but they've chosen to continue to use radar only for automatic emergency braking for reasons only known to them (easier to maintain due to their older radar only fleet?).

But, yes, the i3 and Subaru have optical AEB that works great. Something people like to gloss over again and again in these discussions while talking about radar's limitations (and ignoring that the Model 3 has under-utilized forward facing optical cameras).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com