How Google's Self-Driving Car Works • Hacker News Board

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#11

Post by rmccue » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:24 PM UTC

yread wrote: post #6

I wonder how long will it take till the price of something like this gets to reasonable levels. The lidar and other sensors probably won't get cheap anytime soon. Imagine the costs of Google having to drive through all the places first, mapping them. Then the massive insurance until its proven that self-driving cars are safer (and then it will probably get expensive again after a first accident) Perhaps it would make…

I'm doing some work at the moment using Kinects. Obviously, the range and accuracy is much reduced, but for $100, it's not bad for the price. I'd expect that LIDARs can come down a lot in price once they stop being speciality equipment and start being used in more things.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#12

Post by abailin » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:24 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #10

yread wrote: post #6

I wonder how long will it take till the price of something like this gets to reasonable levels. The lidar and other sensors probably won't get cheap anytime soon. Imagine the costs of Google having to drive through all the places first, mapping them. Then the massive insurance until its proven that self-driving cars are safer (and then it will probably get expensive again after a first accident) Perhaps it would make…

Isn't the kinnect an example of very inexpensive LIDAR? (I may be wrong)

The Kinect uses infrared to see in 3D. Here's a cool video showing the infrared light field: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFoOFZ6ifc

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#13

Post by loverobots » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:38 PM UTC

yread wrote: post #6

I wonder how long will it take till the price of something like this gets to reasonable levels. The lidar and other sensors probably won't get cheap anytime soon. Imagine the costs of Google having to drive through all the places first, mapping them. Then the massive insurance until its proven that self-driving cars are safer (and then it will probably get expensive again after a first accident) Perhaps it would make…

Another problem is that "maps" change quite often due to road construction, detours or whatever.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#14

Post by omegant » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:38 PM UTC

It is normal for pedestrians to look for eye contact in order to know if a driver will yield the right of way or simply will accelerate and pass (in light less crosswalks). In dense pedestrian cities (I am from Spain) it is very usual to have some guessing and false start stop between the pedestrian and the driver, nobody seems to know who is going to yield finally. I wonder if this is been thought and how you'll signal the car's intention to a pedestrian?, maybe a forward braking light?. It could be that automatic cars will be much better yielders than a human driver.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#15

Post by Estragon » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:54 PM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #5

I wonder if they will eventually license the self-driving software in an Android-like model?

Pretty unlikely, at least in the medium term. What's the business strategy which would motivate that?

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#16

Post by pbw » Tue, May 08, 2012, 1:57 PM UTC

The technology is impressive, but humans drive okay without LIDAR, radar, or GPS. Maybe some day self-driving cars can drive using only two small visible-light sensors located above and behind the steering wheel. It might just be an AI challenge to operate that way, and commercial systems will always employ advanced sensors for better safety. But I don't think true parity has been reached until they can drive like we do.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#17

Post by toemetoch » Tue, May 08, 2012, 2:00 PM UTC

loverobots wrote: post #13

yread wrote: post #6

I wonder how long will it take till the price of something like this gets to reasonable levels. The lidar and other sensors probably won't get cheap anytime soon. Imagine the costs of Google having to drive through all the places first, mapping them. Then the massive insurance until its proven that self-driving cars are safer (and then it will probably get expensive again after a first accident) Perhaps it would make…

Another problem is that "maps" change quite often due to road construction, detours or whatever.

Correct, but these autonomous vehicles can (should) also forward updates to the maps server. It's the same as with MAC address/WiFi positioning. When you enable that positioning on your smartphone, it sends a list of MAC/WiFi entities with reception quality to the central server. The server looks up where you are based on that data, but at the same time updates its lists: some routers have disappeared (people moved) and some were added. Crowdsourcing at its best.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#18

Post by Qworg » Tue, May 08, 2012, 2:00 PM UTC

pbw wrote: post #16

The technology is impressive, but humans drive okay without LIDAR, radar, or GPS. Maybe some day self-driving cars can drive using only two small visible-light sensors located above and behind the steering wheel. It might just be an AI challenge to operate that way, and commercial systems will always employ advanced sensors for better safety. But I don't think true parity has been reached until they can drive like we…

The problem is not the AI (driving is relatively simple), but the sensors. Cameras are bad vs. our eyes.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#19

Post by Game_Ender » Tue, May 08, 2012, 2:02 PM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #9

Everything Google does feeds back, somehow, to data mining. How does self-driving cars fit in to Google's plans? ETA: Downvoted for asking a serious question? WTH?

What do you think a bunch of people in self driving cars with smartphones or personal wifi hotspots are going to do? Surf the internet, and therefore use more of Google's products. It's similar to Chrome or Android in that it enables more people to use Google's core services which they make money off of.

Re: How Google's Self-Driving Car Works

#20

Post by Qworg » Tue, May 08, 2012, 2:03 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #10

yread wrote: post #6

I wonder how long will it take till the price of something like this gets to reasonable levels. The lidar and other sensors probably won't get cheap anytime soon. Imagine the costs of Google having to drive through all the places first, mapping them. Then the massive insurance until its proven that self-driving cars are safer (and then it will probably get expensive again after a first accident) Perhaps it would make…

Isn't the kinnect an example of very inexpensive LIDAR? (I may be wrong)

No. A Kinect uses structured light projection to create a discernible pattern. A Velodyne uses Time-of-Flight lasers.