Tesla and Waymo
According to an article posted by The Verge, a lot of data is collected by companies testing and trying to perfect their autonomous vehicles. Sean O'Kane believes that Tesla and Waymo (which started as Google's self-driving program) are the leaders in self-driving technology data, but are using it in very different ways. Both companies are taking a lead in the race for autonomous vehicles by analyzing self-driving data to see how cars and people behave on the road.
While both companies are taking data and using it to learn how their 'semi-autonomous' vehicles behave, they both operate differently. Tesla seems to have an advantage here. While more people become interested in and buy their vehicles, they gain a new perspective on autonomous vehicles. Tesla uses data from their customers that use their semi-autonomous driving mode called 'Autopilot.' Every mile a Tesla is driven in autopilot (and it's a lot of miles - over 3 million 'data' miles per day), the company gains more information on how their system works and reacts with everyday real-world situations it gets put in. Tesla basically has customers testing the technology for them. As they sell more cars, they amount of data they can collect increases.
Waymo, on the other hand, relies on their increasing, but constrained, fleet of 500 to 600 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans. While they plan to add thousands or more vehicles to their fleet at the end of the year, their numbers lack when it comes to Tesla's 300,000+ vehicles that are on the road. Waymo also recently announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, where they hope to develop a fully self-driving version of their I-Pace SUV. Waymo wants to continue their testing and add more miles to their data, but right now must compensate with simulations that don't always come up with every real-world scenario a car might go through. With this view, Tesla has the advantage. Check out the video below, which showcases a Tesla in Autopilot mode. As you can see, it works pretty well.
Data Collection
Another aspect of the Verge article I found interesting was that they pointed out how Tesla and Waymo are collected data very differently. Waymo's self-driving minivans use three different types of LIDAR (radar with radio waves) sensors, five radar sensors, and eight cameras. On the other hand, Tesla's cars use 12 ultrasonic sensors, one radar sensor, and eight cameras. Elon Musk argued that, while LIDAR is more precise, it is too expensive, bulky, and even called the technology a 'crutch,' saying it is easier to use in the short term, but not necessarily perfected for long-term adaptation where costs need to be minimal. Tesla is considered to be taking a more difficult route to perfecting the self-driving car by deciding to not use LIDAR, which is basically industry standard. Additionally, the decision to not use LIDAR makes it difficult to understand exactly how Tesla records data about driving techniques.
Competition and The Market
While Tesla and Waymo (Google) are considered to be at the forefront of companies trying to perfect this technology, they are not alone. Like I mentioned before, there are many companies developing self-driving technologies. The article points out Uber's involvement in the self-driving market. According to the article, Uber follows the Silicon Valley motto of 'move fast and break things.' This is evident in their actions in recent years. Uber seems to take a less careful approach to all aspect of business (which is why I personally don't use them). Their self-driving technologies have come into questions after going around regulation and breaking unspoken industry rules and not to mention one of their self-driving cars hit and killed a pedestrian a few months ago, but that's a different topic.
All in all, it is clear why Tesla and Waymo have become leaders in this industry. They have strong backings (Google and Elon Musk), are careful about their testing while still changing the game, and are collecting and analyzing the most data of any company. While the topic might seem very intriguing to us 'millennials,' not everyone is supportive. I personally am very interested in the technologies. I love that companies are putting more and more technology in cars to make them safer and easier to use. There is even data to show that, once perfected, self driving cars could be safer to ride in than driving a normal car.
With that, I leave you with one main question to consider:
Do you support the advancement of self-driving car technologies or do you think this industry should be left alone?
Competition and The Market
While Tesla and Waymo (Google) are considered to be at the forefront of companies trying to perfect this technology, they are not alone. Like I mentioned before, there are many companies developing self-driving technologies. The article points out Uber's involvement in the self-driving market. According to the article, Uber follows the Silicon Valley motto of 'move fast and break things.' This is evident in their actions in recent years. Uber seems to take a less careful approach to all aspect of business (which is why I personally don't use them). Their self-driving technologies have come into questions after going around regulation and breaking unspoken industry rules and not to mention one of their self-driving cars hit and killed a pedestrian a few months ago, but that's a different topic.
All in all, it is clear why Tesla and Waymo have become leaders in this industry. They have strong backings (Google and Elon Musk), are careful about their testing while still changing the game, and are collecting and analyzing the most data of any company. While the topic might seem very intriguing to us 'millennials,' not everyone is supportive. I personally am very interested in the technologies. I love that companies are putting more and more technology in cars to make them safer and easier to use. There is even data to show that, once perfected, self driving cars could be safer to ride in than driving a normal car.
With that, I leave you with one main question to consider:
Do you support the advancement of self-driving car technologies or do you think this industry should be left alone?
Sources:
Hi Shawn, interesting blog post. I'm personally a big fan of Tesla, so when I saw your post's title, I knew I had to read it. However, I found it interesting that Tesla is still considered to be at the forefront of the self-driving car market because I just read a recent article on how Tesla has been falling behind technologically while Ford, GM and other companies have taken the lead. (I didn't find the link to the article which I believe was by Gartner Research, but this one is along the same lines: https://www.fastcompany.com/40516928/gm-is-leading-the-self-driving-car-race-while-tesla-lags-far-behind-report-says). Apparently, while Tesla has been in the news a lot concerning self-driving cars, its autonomous driving technology hasn't improved much in recent years. In fact, Tesla only relies on cameras and not radars with the hope that regular camera images combined with AI will be enough for self-driving. While this might be true in the long run, GM and other companies are putting in large resources to integrate all the newest technologies (including radars and ultrasonic sensors) and are able to create much better autonomous cars. The only drawback is that these cars are not yet available for the mass market. However, once they reach production in 2019 and 2020, they might give Tesla a serious run for its money.
ReplyDeleteShawn great post, I'm a supporter electric automated vehicles. Reduces carbon footprint, eliminates parking, and in my opinion is safer than humans. I've had multiple friends pass away due to car accidents and driving, although I like driving I am constantly paranoid when I drive, I don't look at my phone and flip off the young girls who have their eyes down looking at their insta on the highway (it's okay they can't see me). A person dies like every 15 minutes due to texting and driving, it's a way bigger issue than guns in my opinion but no one gets scared of texting and driving, at least enough to start a protest over it. I hope they automate this stuff and reduce those texting drivers.
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