
Ask HN: Why can't autonomous vehicles solely rely on visible light sensors? - meri_dian
I know that Lidar is used by most of the big players, but since it&#x27;s so expensive there must be good reasons why they&#x27;re opting for Lidar sensors rather than less expensive visual light cameras and sensors. Is it just that computer vision technology isn&#x27;t sufficiently advanced?
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makecheck
For example, you can bounce it off the ground under the car in front of you to
"see" and measure how fast the car in front of _that_ car is moving. That can
be used to anticipate collision risks that even the car in front of you hasn't
seen yet (and you cannot see with your own eyes).

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goldenbeet
Yes, mainly because CV just isn't there yet. Also because Lidar is better
suited for the task than a camera+sufficient CV would be. The cost of Lidar is
almost inconsequential anyways when compared with the total amount of
building, developing, and testing an autonomous vehicle.

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probinso
You are not always in an area where visible light is sufficient, additionally
light sensors are prone to noise related error. If all of your sensors are
subject to the same errors they may collaborate on mistakes

(In before Kalman filter)

