I compare it to the backup camera in my car. While close up at night it is good, if something or someone is a short distance away I can barely make them out. However, looking in my mirrors I can see them or at least make out that someone or something is there.
A camera can have pretty good dynamic range at night, but it needs a big sensor, a huge lens to operate with a fast shutter speed. In the video, you can already see the motion blur, indicating shutter speed is slower than what it needs to be to identify nearby objects in low light.
Autonomous cars are never going to be viable. Just looking at the cost of high-end SLR sensors and lenses that you'd need to match human eye dynamic range, and you're already looking at an expensive setup, before we even get to things like 360-degree vision and IR/LIDAR/Hyperspectral imaging. And that's in addition to all the compute problems.
Sorry Silicon Valley tech-bros, but it's a fantasy you're chasing that's never going to happen. The quicker we can end this scam industry, the better.
I think you’re comparing object detection to high quality photography though. There are plenty of options that can detect objects at night. Even cheap infrared technology, I would think, would be sufficient for picking up moving objects at night.
Wetware is astonishing stuff. All the propaganda to anthropomorphize machines is showing here... cheap IR sensors are not the issue. AI is not intelligent and inanimate objects have no self.
They should pivit to augmenting drivers, not attempting to drive for them. I would happily utilize a properly designed HUD (meaning I have source access) connected to a fast MerCad or bolometer array.
Sorry for lack of input or varied discussion but I just had to stop and say how goddamn friggin cool it would be to have bolometers hooked up to a smart HUD that didn't interfere with your vision of the road. Something really translucent that smartly blended it's color scheme as to not interfere with the coloration of signs and details beyond your view on the road / around the road.
But you are right, though. I think augmenting drivers sounds like a great idea in the sense you talk about. The kind of augmenting drivers I don't want are those stupid headbands you'd wear that beep like crazy if your head starts tilting in a way that resembles falling asleep. If you are in danger of falling asleep at the wheel and need a device like that I think it's pretty obvious one should take a nap on the side of the road or in a free parking lot, haha. Hopefully if we do wind up headed in that direction the people inventing will have a similar way of thinking and inventing.
High-quality exists because the human eye is that sensitive and discerning. And there aren't plenty of options that can detect objects at night. IR isn't any cheaper, and then you have to figure out what IR bands you want to detect.
I've read (see [1]) that humans have a low-light ability that approximates ISO 60,000, a pretty large value and larger than simple video cameras provide. However, very high end pro/enthusiast SLR's go considerably higher, see this real-time astrophotography with the Sony a7s at ISO 409,600 (youtube video [2]). The same Sony will work great in full sunlight too.
The Canon ME20F-SH is a video camera reaches ISO 4,000,000. This camera has a dynamic range of 12 stops and is available at B&H for $20,000. [4]
Of course, this isn't exactly the challenge that cameras face when assessing a scene. The dynamic range happens within a single scene all at the same time. Wide dynamic range (WDR) is the term I've seen used in describing video cameras that can handle both bright and dim areas within the same scene.
No that's not how ISO works. The Canon ME20F-SH shoots high definition video at professional video shutter speeds and has an available ISO range of 800 to 4,560,000. At $20,000 I'm not suggesting that this exact camera would be appropriate for use in autonomous vehicles, but I am pointing out that video systems can now exceed the capabilities of human eyes.
There are a number of video samples shot on the Canon ME20F-SH on YouTube. In these one can see that under low light situations the camera is shooting at ordinary video speed (the camera supports shutter speeds from 24 to 60 fps). I'm not trying to push the Canon ME20F-SH; I don't have any association with Canon. The manual for this camera is available on-line if you'd like to read up on it: [1].
The actual exposure of a video frame or image depends upon the f-stop of the camera's lens (aperture), the shutter speed, and the ISO of the image sensor. See [2].
Basically, each doubling or halving the shutter speeds corresponds to one "full-stop" in photography. Each full stop of exposure doubles or halves the amount of light reaching the sensor. Changing the aperture of the camera's lens by full stops also doubles or halves the amount of light reaching the sensor. Full stops for camera lenses are designated as f1, f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, etc.
The light sensitivity of the film or sensor is also customarily measured in full stops. Very slow fine grained color film is ISO 50 and is usually used in full sunlight. ISO 100 is a bit more flexible and ISO 400 used to be considered a "fast" film for situations where more graininess would be acceptable in exchange for low light situations. Each doubling of ISO number corresponds to a full stop. So a photo take with ISO 400 at f2 with 1/1000 second shutter would have the same "brightness" as a picture taken at ISO 100 at f2.8 with 1/125 second shutter (less 2 stops ISO, less 1 stop aperture, and plus three stops shutter speed). Naturally, other factors come into play, the behavior of film or digital sensors at extremely slow or extremely fast shutter speeds isn't linear, there are color differences, and noise issues too. See [3] if you are interested in more about how photography works.
