Interesting about lidar. And yes a composite view would be an improvement over our two eyes pretty close together. But I’m pretty sure I haven’t thought this through, but I thought none of the cameras overlap each other and that was one of the reasons we didn’t get a 360° view on the Teslas (thus far) ?
This is an older article:
I see from the article what you are talking about now. Of course there’s more than one camera in one direction with different eye settings like zoom etc. Crissa said as much I just didn’t connect. Doesn’t look like there’s any limitation for the mentioned 360 view feature either, but their focus is probably on the more advanced uses.
Yes, they have lots of overlapping space. This both lets them knit the video together and get stereoscopic distance information.
Even human eye uses multiple type of sensors (rods and cones). We can overcome the dynamic range problem to be better than human eye with using multiple cameras with different exposure. As you pointed out how to intelligently process that data within our computational limits is the tricky part.
Then the Empire will Strike Back.
...Which will have the same problem any human viewer would have.
It's not even necessary to use multiple cameras to achieve high dynamic range. The same camera can take successive images at different ISO's by adjusting sensor gain instantly between frames. The human eye cannot do that. So the result would be a video of interleaved frames at different ISO's. The images would be processed to create all frames with super high dynamic range.
Currently, Tesla is creating 3D models of the driving space in real time without using stereo lenses. They use AI which is trained with millions of images that are annotated with distance data derived by radar and LIDAR. After training, the neural net, the system can annotate non-stereo images with distance information with a high degree of accuracy and this is used to construct 3D models of the driving space which are then fed back into a different neural net which outputs the desired trajectory. This is then converted to appropriate control responses.
I think that case can be resolved without radar with enough light and resolution. The same way we can tell the difference. With a camera on right and one on the left you can see if any pixel inside of the tunnel change position with respect to outside pixels as you get closer. Daylight or vehicle headlight should give enough light to make enough of inside visible. Of course using multiple technologies always provides an edge but when you are in a competitive market, lower cost is often the most significant edge. Besides, if you can make it work without the radar, the applications can go far beyond cars. Drones need to be lighter and could use Less stuff stuffed in them.
Also the system double checks with the mapping data that there is actually a tunnel there (also why would the road go there if it wasn’t?). If the tunnel is closed for some reason the car can get real-time traffic data and see the warning lights and signs.
