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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 24 2019, @03:16PM (1 child)
Simple. The car will remind you of changing the wipers. If, after getting the message, you still don't do so for a prolonged time, it will refuse to start until you have them replaced.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday April 24 2019, @10:30PM
European and Japanese cars already have bongs, bings and trills for seatbelts, lights, doors, etc.. And dashboard warnings for failures (lights blown, errors in electronics, flat key fob battery..)
Adding one more for "obscured self driving camera" is not going to cause the end of the world.
I think vehicles with autonomous braking or radar cruise control already have some sort of warning if the radar unit is covered.
The problem with extending the period between inspections comes down to brake and tyre wear. Heavy braking and hard acceleration (the way most people seem to drive these days) can wear out brakes and tyres in under a year..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex