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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 12 2017, @06:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the SLAM-is-a-bad-name-for-a-self-driving-project dept.

Apple Executive Reveals More of Its Self-Driving Technology

Apple received a permit from the California DMV to test self-driving vehicles in April, and CEO Tim Cook confirmed his interest in such technology in June.

The scale and scope of any car project at Apple remains unclear. [Ruslan] Salakhutdinov didn't say how the projects he discussed Friday fit into any wider effort in automated driving, and a company spokesman declined to elaborate.

Salakhutdinov showed data from one project previously disclosed in a research paper posted online last month. It trained software to identify pedestrians and cyclists using 3-D scanners called lidars used on most autonomous vehicles.

Other projects Salakhutdinov discussed don't appear to have been previously disclosed. One created software that identifies cars, pedestrians, and the driveable parts of the road in images from a camera or multiple cameras mounted on a vehicle.

Salakhutdinov showed images demonstrating how the system performed well even when raindrops spattered the lens, and could infer the position of pedestrians on the sidewalk when they were partially screened by parked cars. He cited that last result as an example of recent improvements in machine learning for some tasks. "If you asked me five years ago, I would be very skeptical of saying 'Yes you could do that,'" he said.

Another project Salakhutdinov discussed involved giving software moving through the world a kind of sense of direction, a technique called SLAM, for simultaneous localization and mapping. SLAM is used on robots and autonomous vehicles, and also has applications in map building and augmented reality. A fourth project used data collected by sensor-laden cars to generate rich 3-D maps with features like traffic lights and road markings. Most prototype autonomous vehicles need detailed digital maps in order to operate. Salakhutdinov also mentioned work on making decisions in dynamic situations, a topic illustrated on his slides with a diagram of a car plotting a path around a pedestrian.

Also at The Verge.

Previously: Apple's Tim Cook Confirms Self-Driving Car Plans


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:29PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:29PM (#608941) Journal

    The standard version costs $45,999.

    The version with 30% more battery capacity costs $95,999.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 12 2017, @09:56PM (#608962)

    Does the upgrade add a second door? Probably not...