this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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BMW tests next-gen LiDAR to beat Tesla to Level 3 self-driving cars::Tesla's autonomous vehicle tech has been perennially stuck at Level 2 self-driving, as BMW and other rivals try to leapfrog to Level 3.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (23 children)

Tesla's decision to only use cameras and no lidar will bite them in the ass.

[–] [email protected] 95 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This. That cocksucker has such ~a tiny dick~ fragile ego he makes huge decisions without any expertise simply because he says so. Thats how he built the whole “genius” thing around him. Reality of it is that he is an annoying dumbass who thinks he knows it all and anyone in the same room with more than one brain cell is immediately annoyed with him. But he has a lot of money so i guess LeTtEr X cOoL

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think you need to use two tildes on each side if you want it show up as a strike through ~~like this~~

 ~~like this~~
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Really? On wefwef my comment shows up with a strikethrough

~test with one tilde~

~~test with two tildes~~

I’ll use two from now I guess.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Came here to say this. Couldn’t be more on point. Using both cameras and LiDAR in tandem will be necessary for true self driving vehicles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

fortunately LIDAR unit costs are going down, so multiple units, fusing their data with regular camera arrays should resolve a very good view, and be good at error-correcting for each other's shortcomings.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Already is.

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I hate that the article opens with

Just a decade ago, the concept of self-driving cars might have seemed like something out of a science fiction movie

Ten years ago there was already a ton of competition in self driving car research. They were first legalized on the roads 10 years ago. Tesla autopilot (including it even though it was a scam) was sold 9 years ago. Google spun off its self driving car division as waymo in 2016.

This feels like one of those "bruh Zelda ocarina of time came out 29 years ago, we old" memes

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hell, Mercedes and Bosch were testing it all the way back in 1993:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTnBiTIvGqY

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Old Mercedes was insane. They really were the best or nothing

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=JTnBiTIvGqY

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Bet even the self driving software of BMW won't use turn signals when they change lanes.

[–] masterairmagic 15 points 1 year ago

It would be a bug if it did signal 🤣

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (7 children)

This will probably be under monthly subscription

[–] RustyPenguin 41 points 1 year ago (3 children)

"The route you selected contains a highway. Please purchase the Highway Driving Pack in addition to your City Driving Pack to reach your destination"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a pretty bad Black Mirror episode

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Fekkin hell that sounds like a boring dystopia

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Almost certainly.

But self-driving also depends on up-to-date mapping data and continually improved algorithms for the autonomous systems to work properly. An ongoing cost to the customer makes the most sense for a service that has operating costs to the service provider.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always thought that the Tesla craze would fizzle as major car brands start investing in EVs and self driving tech. I'll take a Toyota, Volvo, Honda or BMW over a Tesla anytime.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sadly Toyota is struggling to make a decent EV years after leading in hybrids. BMW on the other hand has insane efficiency

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Still bizarre to me that Toyota had such a lead with hybrids and then went in on hydrogen and missed the boat on evs

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

hopefully this will change soon, there's some nifty shit on the horizon from Toyota, hope they meet expectations. https://www.inverse.com/tech/toyota-electric-car-600-mile-range-ev

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My understanding was that the challenge in making the next leap in self driving was not based in hardware (detecting objects with cameras vs LiDAR), but in software. As in, it isn't as difficult to detect the presence of objects as it is to make consistent and safe decisions based on that information.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

But using LIDAR, you increase your data's accuracy and dimensionality, giving you more options to play with. It probably won't be a game changer, but it may be better than a camera only system.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Gathering more data, and being able to process it seems obvious as a way forward. How much better is this "new" LIDAR?

Edit: seems Tesla cars doesn't even use LIDAR...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They did. And every other competitor does. Musk believes since humans can drive with only two eyes that cars should be able to as well. Maybe someday, but nowhere in the near future. Cameras miss too much and are easily blinded.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It's also really stupid because the idea is to create a system that's better than humans. And let me tell you, people miss stuff all the time when driving. Tons and tons of accidents are caused by "negligent" drivers who looked both ways and missed someone due to a visual processing error or literally not being able to see something.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Self driving cars are great and all, but can we get someone seriously working on alternative fuels? EV is really pretty unsustainable. All the resources going to build batteries that are unrecycleable is a massive waste in my opinion. And the unless something drastic changes, the ranges that are needed for logistics and America aren't going to ultimately fix anything.

If they can create an alternative fuel that is significantly less polluting, or figure out how to make hydrogen less explody, the existing infrastructure worldwide of gas stations can still be efficiently used. And hopefully there will be a to retrofit existing vehicles to use this alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

batteries that are unrecycleable

Is this actually the case?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

My understanding is that EV batteries are actually very recyclable, up to 90%. I imagine it's more labor intensive than your conventional lead-acid batteries though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, shouldn't we be working on both? Just because they're working on one, that doesn't necessarily mean they're not working on the other.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

They also are working on alternative fuels in a big way. Japan have made some incredible leaps with hydrogen/ammonia based production and fuels, and solid state batteries are looking to be pretty game changing. The EU also included a huge budget to invest in green fuels research (likely because of automotive companies lobbying for it) so plenty is being done. Even if EVs aren't the best currently, increasing the size of the market for them will continue to create investments in serving those markets more efficiently, so we absolutely should keep investing in both.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not an expert or anything, but I doubt we'll see a price-competitive synthetic fuel in the time it takes for renewables to become the standard. Renewable electricity gets cheaper as more panels and turbines are built, so it makes some economical sense too.

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