In a previous post, I discussed Elon Musk’s view that the usage of lidar in autonomous vehicle applications is a “fools errand.” Musk believes that radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and neural networks are all that’s needed to make self-driving vehicles function well. With lidar sensors being the most expensive part of self-driving systems, elimination of their usage would be important. Is Intel-Mobileye now in the same non-lidar camp as Elon Musk? During a news conference this week at CES, Intel showed a video of a vehicle equipped only with 12 cameras (no lidar and no other sensors) navigating the streets of Jerusalem. Intel says the processing is done with two of its latest autonomous driving EyeQ5 chips. The company also stated they can merge the information from this camera system with that from radar and lidar systems to use together on self-driving cars. So maybe Intel hasn’t completely eliminated the usage of lidar in the future. But their ability to tackle the streets of Jerusalem with only a camera-based system seems very impressive.
Is Lidar Unecessary? More Evidence that Musk Might Be Right.
