Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday April 24 2019, @09:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the take-me-to-Anchorage,-Alaska dept.

According to a [PDF] paper to be presented at the 2019 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, June 15-21 in Long beach, California, researchers have discovered a "simple, cost-effective, and accurate new method" of enabling self driving cars to recognize 3d objects in their path.

Currently bulky expensive lasers, scanners, and specialized GPS receivers are used in LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensors and mounted on top of the vehicle. This causes increased drag as well as being unsightly and adding another ~$10,000 to the price tag. Until now, this has been the only viable option.

Cornell researchers have discovered that a simpler method, using two inexpensive cameras on either side of the windshield, can detect objects with nearly LiDAR's accuracy and at a fraction of the cost. The researchers found that analyzing the captured images from a bird's eye view rather than the more traditional frontal view more than tripled their accuracy, making stereo cameras a viable and low-cost alternative to LiDAR.

According to the paper, which goes into this in considerable depth, it is not the quality of images and data which causes the difference in accuracy, but the representation of the data. Adjusting this brings the object detection results using far less expensive camera data for 3D image-analysis up to nearly the same effectiveness as much more expensive LiDAR.

Kilian Weinberger, associate professor of computer science and senior author of the paper, notes that

stereo cameras could potentially be used as the primary way of identifying objects in lower-cost cars, or as a backup method in higher-end cars that are also equipped with LiDAR.

The paper concludes that future work may improve image-based 3D object detection using the denser data feed from cameras further, fully closing the gap with LiDAR.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Wednesday April 24 2019, @02:21PM (2 children)

    by mhajicek (51) on Wednesday April 24 2019, @02:21PM (#834348)

    Bounce off... That gave me an idea. Put an air knife in front of each camera to deflect incoming debris.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 24 2019, @03:25PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 24 2019, @03:25PM (#834369)
    Air knife works great on Mazak's clean coolant, but outdoors the incoming stream contains heavier particles that can slip through and stick.
    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday April 24 2019, @07:40PM

      by mhajicek (51) on Wednesday April 24 2019, @07:40PM (#834470)

      Heavier than the metal chips in the coolant?

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek