We're quickly reaching the point where Lidar isn't needed, pure vision workflows are getting much better.
FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
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Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
That, or to avoid surrendering yet another technology relevant to the future to China. As if them manufacturing the bulk of world's solar panels, wind turbines and heading for EVs isn't bad enough.
US companies don't even sell consumer drones, so are they going to stay competitive by forcing consumers to buy $4000 enterprise models for their kids to play with?
Hobbyist drones also don't ship with lidar in stock.
The concern isn't China dominating the area of $20 toys. The concern is platforms relevant to industry and military.
Whether that, in turn, can be disentangled from "the area of $20 toys" in case of drones is unclear to me.
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#13We're quickly reaching the point where Lidar isn't needed, pure vision workflows are getting much better.
Well, Elon thought that too and we still haven't seen any robotaxi
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#14How’s a Lidar is a national risk?! (It’s easy to build a lidar based drones in a weekend project) Also, knowing plenty of US based drone manufacturers, most of their stuff are dependent on Chinese parts, the radio communication is on top of that list. If I were DJI, I would make Lidar and similar components modular, so they can still sell these drones while consumers can buy these modules later or DIY it, like litera…
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Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How’s a Lidar is a national risk?! The anti-flock community believes it's because they can destroy image sensors from a distance. And banning the foreign ones means they can order domestic-made drones to have firmware that prevents them from operating in certain ways or in certain (government) areas, among other things. The finance community thinks they just don't want competition that might rival or sell better th…
> And banning the foreign ones means they can order domestic-made drones to have firmware that prevents them from operating in certain (government) areas, among other things. Yeah because DJI drones are well known for their easy to hack firmware and lacking support for no fly zones..right? And they would openly flaunt any US law making any drones sold or flown the US to obey the NFZs? But wait, that's exactly what DJ…
NFZ was just one example, there's no limit to what they could force other countries' software to do in their domestic versions. That was really the point I was trying to make.
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#16Another move to remove competition for Don Jr.?
That, or to avoid surrendering yet another technology relevant to the future to China. As if them manufacturing the bulk of world's solar panels, wind turbines and heading for EVs isn't bad enough.
That isn't stopping them from developing LIDAR in any way
Moreover they also have 2 market leaders in that techs
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#17How’s a Lidar is a national risk?! (It’s easy to build a lidar based drones in a weekend project) Also, knowing plenty of US based drone manufacturers, most of their stuff are dependent on Chinese parts, the radio communication is on top of that list. If I were DJI, I would make Lidar and similar components modular, so they can still sell these drones while consumers can buy these modules later or DIY it, like litera…
I don't think it's LiDAR itself that is the risk. The FCC note read more like the cause is trade and supply-chain protectionism. (https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/robots-nsd.pdf)
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#18We're quickly reaching the point where Lidar isn't needed, pure vision workflows are getting much better.
No, it very much depends on the application, what you're trying to do. Different tools for different jobs. Don't conflate.
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#19How’s a Lidar is a national risk?! (It’s easy to build a lidar based drones in a weekend project) Also, knowing plenty of US based drone manufacturers, most of their stuff are dependent on Chinese parts, the radio communication is on top of that list. If I were DJI, I would make Lidar and similar components modular, so they can still sell these drones while consumers can buy these modules later or DIY it, like litera…
Steel manning this argument: Electronic warfare resistant loitering munitions. They would transmit sparse point clouds to the enemy for training. Not saying I support it.
How is this worse than 4k video, in this age of analytical abundance? The steel content of this argument is pretty low; it's essentially 'technology operates normally = national security risk.'
Why not ban pencils? You can draw maps or schematics of secret things, plus they can be used to stab people!
Re: FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US
#20How’s a Lidar is a national risk?! (It’s easy to build a lidar based drones in a weekend project) Also, knowing plenty of US based drone manufacturers, most of their stuff are dependent on Chinese parts, the radio communication is on top of that list. If I were DJI, I would make Lidar and similar components modular, so they can still sell these drones while consumers can buy these modules later or DIY it, like litera…
Steel manning this argument: Electronic warfare resistant loitering munitions. They would transmit sparse point clouds to the enemy for training. Not saying I support it.
> Electronic warfare resistant loitering munitions
Most fpv drones don’t even have GNSS, they fly on acro mode or manual one, so that won’t prevent a “loitering munition”. Now for gnss denied autonomous navigation, Lidar isn’t the corner stone part, for indoor ones other sensors do well if not better like stereo cams, outdoor, you don’t need Lidar that much, but also you can use image based navigation, where it compares prestored images to land marks to navigate accurately. That being said, it’s not like Lidars are completely banned, you can buy one, 2d or 3d lidar, and equip it on your drone that you built, you don’t need dji to have it ready for you, so that ban won’t really mitigate any risk assuming there is one.
> They would transmit sparse point clouds to the enemy for training
Restricted facilities already restrict any kind of drone, other locations you can access these info without the need to transmit any point clouds data anyway.