Posts: 12,025
Threads: 1,809
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation:
227
Today, the field looks different. Apple has scaled back its automotive ambitions, laying off staff and extending the deadlines for those who are left. Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., is locked in a brutal battle with Uber Technologies Inc. over the intellectual property of Alphabet’s driverless unit, Waymo, and has sidelined plans to build cars. Tesla can barely get its driver-required Model 3 out of its factories. Meanwhile, on Nov. 29, GM unveiled the latest version of its electric Chevy Bolt, a close second to Waymo’s self-driving minivans as the most advanced autonomous car the world has seen. Among other things, GM intends the Bolts to form the backbone of a robo-taxi business it plans to start in 2019. “Autonomous driving is one of the most difficult software challenges of the decade, if not the century,” says Kyle Vogt, the face of GM’s automation efforts. And yet, improbably, the sleepy old automaker is a contender to solve it.
How GM Bought Its Way to the Front of the Driverless-Car Pack - Bloomberg
Posts: 12,025
Threads: 1,809
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation:
227
Robotic perception startup AEye (Pleasanton, CA) has demonstrated what it calls a new form of intelligent data collection through optical sensors: iDAR. The acronym is not a typo but stands for “Intelligent Detection and Ranging” and is designed to enable rapid dynamic perception and path planning for autonomous vehicles and robots. The technology combines an “agile” Micro-optical Mechanical (MOEMS) LiDAR, pre-fused with a low-light camera and embedded artificial intelligence and thus is creating software-definable and extensible hardware that can dynamically adapt to real-time demands.
Agile sensor technology may surpass lidar | Smart2.0
Posts: 12,025
Threads: 1,809
Joined: Apr 2008
Reputation:
227
The iconic spinning laser sensors atop autonomous cars may be making their final turns. Velodyne, the world’s market-leading lidar manufacturer, has built a new device that sees further and in more detail than any lidar sensor currently on sale, in a package a fifth the size of its previous high-resolution device. The new device uses 128 laser beams, twice as many as its predecessor. The firm’s chief technical officer, Anand Gopalan, told MIT Technology Review that those beams are separated by angles as small as 0.1°, with a range of 300 meters, and create as many as four million data points per second as they spin through 360 degrees. The increase in resolution, says Gopalan, will provide such detail that cars won’t need other sensors for obstacle detection—though they probably will still carry other sensors in the interests of redundancy and safety.
Lidar Just Got Way Better—But It’s Still Too Expensive for Your Car - MIT Technology Review
Toyota is the first automaker to embrace a promising laser sensor that sees farther and in more detail than its major competitors. The lidar system, developed by Luminar, uses longer wavelength light than other sensors, allowing it to operate at a higher power and spot dark objects twice as far out as regular devices. At 70 miles per hour, that’s three extra seconds of warning. It uses a mirror to quickly steer its laser, so that it can easily zoom in on areas while still mapping an entire scene.
Automakers Are Now Using a Hot New Lidar Device for Driverless Research - MIT Technology Review
Velodyne has introduced a LiDAR sensor that has, according to the company, the world's best resolution, longest range, and widest field of view. With 128 laser beams, the VLS-128 will replace the HDL-64 LiDAR as the industry standard for high performance. At the same time, the company promises price cuts.
Hi-resolution LiDAR gets compact and affordable | Smart2.0
According to the company, the new VLS-128 LiDAR sensor delivers 10 times higher resolving power than its predecessor, the HDL-64 sensor, allowing it to see objects more clearly and from greater distances. Featuring 128 laser channels, the device is claimed to offer the highest resolution, longest range, and the widest surround field-of-view of any LiDAR system available today. “The VLS-128 is the best LiDAR sensor on the planet, delivering the most advanced real-time 3D vision for safe driving," says Mike Jellen, President, Velodyne LiDAR. "Automotive OEMs and new tech entrants in the autonomous space have been hoping and waiting for this breakthrough."
Velodyne releases 'breakthrough' LiDAR sensor | Smart2.0
people are already writing papers on the LIDAR interference problem: http://bit.ly/2t5Sc6f http://bit.ly/2u3eH90 I don't think it is a tenable theory that AV manufacturers and researchers are unaware of this problem. there are also some interesting papers on less obvious problems, such as: http://bit.ly/2t5UCBt "Self-driving cars are a huge area of research and investment in the UK, with the market estimated to be worth £900bn by 2025, but a security researcher has uncovered a way to hack these vehicles using nothing but an off-the-shelf laser pointer, highlighting the possible risks associated with the new technology. Jonathan Petit, principal scientist at software security company Security Innovation, discovered that a laser pointer could interfere with the laser ranging (Lidar) systems that most self-driving cars rely on to navigate" I don't think this is such a hard problem, though: one simple workaround for that would seem to be to double-pulse with two different frequencies and define "something is there" only if there is detection on both frequencies. This is analogous to how you filter out rain (it's not rain only if it's there on both pulses).
Tesla May Have Taken Wrong Turn On Lidar - Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) | Seeking Alpha
A couple of more links if anyone is curious about what is really going on research-wise in this and other problem areas: http://bit.ly/2t5TAWn http://auto-sens.com
Tesla May Have Taken Wrong Turn On Lidar - Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) | Seeking Alpha
Ambarella (AMBA) is most associated on Wall Street for its close relationship with GoPro (GPRO) , but the semiconductor company is much more than that. The company also makes chips for automotive cameras, something which Morgan Stanley believes will aid the company, as "[a]utonomous cars represent a sophisticated blend of computer power and artificial intelligence for navigating the countless number of real-world driving scenarios...in real time."
10 Surprising Companies That May Cash in On the Autonomous Car Future - Pg.4 - TheStreet
|
