
Uber Scales Back Number of Sensors on Self Driving Cars - portofcall
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/28/17172666/uber-self-driving-crash-sensor-lidar-email-ducey
======
GFischer
Most people on HN were wondering why the sensors didn't catch the pedestrian,
now we have a possible reason:

 _" In scaling back to a single lidar on the Volvo, Uber introduced a blind
zone around the perimeter of the SUV that cannot fully detect pedestrians,
according to interviews with former employees and Raj Rajkumar, the head of
Carnegie Mellon University’s transportation center who has been working on
self-driving technology for over a decade."_

It is very unfortunate that other programs will be tainted by this, but it's
also a lesson.

I wonder what happened with the cheap LIDAR alternatives that showed up on HN
some time ago.

~~~
blensor
That blind spot or more like blind area would be immediately around the car
where other sensors have coverage as well. Not 20 meters in front of the car.
Just take a look at our simulation of this scene [1]. The person would have
been clearly visible to the LIDAR.

Scaling back sensors just to cut costs is obviously not a good idea, but the
conclusion this article leads people to is not correct either

[1]
[http://www.blensor.org/lidar_accident_followup.html](http://www.blensor.org/lidar_accident_followup.html)

