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Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

theguardian.com

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Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#4
post #2

Doesn't this just suggest that computer vision is practically impossible to perfect, and that cameras + LIDAR would be far better for safely driving a car? You need actual distances to objects, not just fuzzy error-prone inferences.

The obvious counter-example are humans.

On a more realistic level, stereoscopic vision seems like a pretty decent way to get distances.

Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#6
> The company’s “Large Animal Detection system” can identify and avoid deer, elk and caribou, but early testing in Australia shows it cannot adjust to the kangaroo’s unique method of movement.

In Sweden there are elks and deer but not so many kangaroos. :)

An intelligent system needs to learn. To learn it needs examples.

Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#8
post #2

Doesn't this just suggest that computer vision is practically impossible to perfect, and that cameras + LIDAR would be far better for safely driving a car? You need actual distances to objects, not just fuzzy error-prone inferences.

Volvo self-driving cars have multiple LIDARs and radars, in addition to vision.

Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#9
Lots of human drivers are confused by kangaroos and kangaroos are confused by cars especially at night. You see an awful lot dead kangaroos on the side of the road in rural Australia.

As an aside, kangaroos in motion are one of the most efficient and elegant mammals. I love watching them bounding away at speed effortlessly dodging scrub and trees - more like flight than running.

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