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The Waymo World Model

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421–430 of 699 posts

Re: The Waymo World Model

#421
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purpose of lidar is to prove error correction when you need it most in terms of camera accuracy loss. Humans do this, just in the sense of depth perception with both eyes.

(Always worth noting, human depth perception is not just based on stereoscopic vision, but also with focal distance, which is why so many people get simulator sickness from stereoscopic 3d VR)

In fact there are even more depth perception clues. Maybe the most obvious is size (retinal versus assumed real world size). Further examples include motion parallax, linear perspective, occlusion, shadows, and light gradients

Here is a study on how these effects rank when it’s comes to (hand) reaching tasks in VR: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29293512/

Re: The Waymo World Model

#423
post #403
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lidar fails worse than cameras in nearly all those conditions. There are plenty of videos of Tesla's vision-only approach seeing obstacles far before a human possibly could in all those conditions on real customer cars. Many are on the old hardware with far worse cameras

Interesting, got any links? Sounds completely unbelievable, eyes are far superior to the shitty cameras Tesla has on their cars.

[deleted]

Re: The Waymo World Model

#424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an equivalent to Godwin's law wrt threads about Google and Google Reader? See also: any programming thread and Rust.

I'm convinced my last groan will be reading a thread about Google paper clipping the world, and someone will be moaning about Google Reader.

“A more elegant weapon of a civilised age.”

Re: The Waymo World Model

#425
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't a vehicle that goes from anywhere to anywhere on your own schedule, safely, privately, cleanly, and without billions in subsidies better?

Cars don't work in dense places.

Sure but most of the world has a density low enough that cars work and trains don't really. I like trains as much as the next nerd, but you're never going to be able to take a train from your house to your local farm shop or whatever.

Where trains work they are great. Where they don't, driverless electric cars seem like a great option.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#426
post #318
post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well then invest in those things, then. It would probably cost less than the amount they're spending to make a Waymo World Model.

Lighting money on fire by funding an extremely expensive system that most people don't want to use is not an "investment." It's just a good way to make everyone much poorer and worse off than if we'd done nothing. The only way to change things is to convince the electorate that we actually do need rules and enforcement and a sustainable transportation system . This isn't just happening in America. Train systems are i…

> most people don't want to use

I'm not sure if this was intended or not, but this is a common NIMBY refrain. The argument of "This thing being advocated for that I'm fighting against isn't something people want anyway". And like walkable neighborhood architecture, extremely few Americans have access to light rail. Let alone light rail that doesn't have to yield to car traffic.

Regardless, the cost arguments fall apart once you take the total cost society pays for each system instead of only what the government pays. Because when you get the sum of road construction & maintenance, car acquisition, car maintenance, insurance, and parking, it dwarfs the cost of the local transit system. Break it down on a per-consumer basis and it gets even uglier. New York City is a good example to dive into, especially since it's the typical punching bag for "out-of-control" budgets.

Quick napkin math pins the annual MTA cost at $32-$33 billion and the total cost of the car system between $25 and $44 billion per year. Since the former serves somewhere around 5.5 million riders, and the latter only about 2 million, the MTA costs $5,300-6,600 per user annually where the car system costs $12,000–$22,500 per user annually.

Re: The Waymo World Model

#427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ski lifts man, ski lifts all over the city

> Ski lifts man, ski lifts all over the city Don't they have those somewhere in South America?

Quite a few places. Cable propelled transit (CPT) is the term to search for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondola_lift#Urban_transport

Re: The Waymo World Model

#428
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't a vehicle that goes from anywhere to anywhere on your own schedule, safely, privately, cleanly, and without billions in subsidies better?

>without billions in subsidies Is there a magic road wand?

No, but roads are paid for by road users (i.e. everyone).

Re: The Waymo World Model

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ex-googler: I doubt it, but am curious for rationale (i know there was a round of PR re: him “coming back to help with AI.” but just between you and me, the word on him internally, over years and multiple projects, was having him around caused chaos b/c he was a tourist flitting between teams, just spitting out ideas, but now you have unclear direction and multiple teams hearing the same “you should” and doing it)

Oh ffs, we have an external investor who behaves like that. Literally set us back a year on pet nonsense projects and ideas.

What'd he say
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