Featured Toyota partners with Luminar for LIDAR

The future of cars protecting bad drivers is getting closer. LIDAR, radar, sonar, and cameras, are all getting less expensive and will see things the driver can not. Chips from nvidia, intel (who now owns mobileye), and samsung will compete to process the information in ways that are better than the human brain. Exciting times times but likely problems until all the hardware and software are sorted out.

Right now LIDAR is too expensive for regular cars, but with google and toyota investing, and innovators like Luminar perhaps in a decade lidar will trickle down to cars like the prius. For today, tesla's sensor array on the model 3 of 1 radar, 8 cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors seems like great sensing that is affordable. The problem is getting the nvidia chip (or intel chip) the software to look at them all correctly. Lidar will give a major improvement and make processing easier once prices go down.

A few other details from fortune. Toyota Unveils A Next-Generation Self-Driving Car For Testing | Fortune I like the approach of clean sheeting it then bringing costs down. I hope Toyota gets this commercialized in a lexus soon, so we can get some real world reviews on how good it works. Fortune seemed to say a lesser system is down to $8000. If toyota/luminar can get this down to $15,000, I think they can pop it in a lexus and sell it (I'm sure you would want at least 4 cameras and some ultra sonics in a self driving demo, but toyota can now install those inexpensively).

 

Funny in an after golf lunch today two of the 5 were bitterly complaining about intermittent failures of the sensors on their smart cruise control from separate makes and the dealers unwillingness to call in experts to fix them. No code, no can fix.

Cars are too complex for the technicians who must fix them as they are limited by the diagnostic tools the manufacturer builds in and sells to the dealers.

(Even worse was one's complaint of a request for an oil change with the next available appointment in mid November. Not the first time this has happened.)

 

Funny thing about the engine oil change, 7000 miles ODO with about half EV. I am planning a transmission oil change, 5000 service miles.

Bob Wilson