Tesla driver dies in first fatal crash while using autopilot mode • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla driver dies in first fatal crash while using autopilot mode

#11

Post by wibbleywobbley » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 12:54 PM UTC

bobsil1 wrote: post #7

Brad Templeton argues a perpendicular truck would look stationary to radar and be filtered out, so use LIDAR. http://ideas.4brad.com/man-dies-while-driven-tesla-autopilot

I don't understand how it would look stationary. The car is moving towards the truck, therefore it would not appear stationary on radar, right?

Re: Tesla driver dies in first fatal crash while using autopilot mode

#12

Post by bobsil1 » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 1:08 PM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #9

bobsil1 wrote: post #7

Brad Templeton argues a perpendicular truck would look stationary to radar and be filtered out, so use LIDAR. http://ideas.4brad.com/man-dies-while-driven-tesla-autopilot

The reason they couldn't use LIDAR on the Tesla is because Tesla is literally the coolest car on the road, and the LIDAR protrusion on the top of the car would completely reverse that. It would go from the coolest car to the dorkiest car. There isn't a way to just stick the LIDAR somewhere unobtrusive. So this is the thing that, strangely, almost no one (aside from myself) seems to have noticed: LIDAR is fundamentall…

You could add it as a fin, like BMW antennas. LIDAR is expensive and mechanically unreliable: you can't steer light electrically, so you need either a spinning motor or a phased array (under research). And isn't really needed after optical, radar and sonar.

Re: Tesla driver dies in first fatal crash while using autopilot mode

#13

Post by bobsil1 » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 1:09 PM UTC

wibbleywobbley wrote: post #11

bobsil1 wrote: post #7

Brad Templeton argues a perpendicular truck would look stationary to radar and be filtered out, so use LIDAR. http://ideas.4brad.com/man-dies-while-driven-tesla-autopilot

I don't understand how it would look stationary. The car is moving towards the truck, therefore it would not appear stationary on radar, right?

Known car velocity is subtracted out. The bigger issue is why it wouldn't halt if a stationary object is in your lane. My guess is the sensors had too narrow a vertical FOV to detect a high tractor trailer.