BMW, Intel, Mobileye Partner On Self-Driving Cars, 'Turning Point For Automotive Industry': Reports (bloomberg.com)

BMW, Intel, and Mobileye NV are working to develop autonomous-car technology, reports Bloomberg, citing multiple sources. Senior executives from each company will hold an event on Friday to discuss the driverless-vehicle initiative, the report adds. From the article:Jerusalem-based Mobileye has been an early leader in providing cameras, software and other components that allow vehicles to see the world around them. BMW has been a client of Mobileye, along with General Motors Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. As automakers and their suppliers race to create systems to replace human drivers, most companies are betting on some form of artificial intelligence, which requires powerful processing.Reuters, citing one source, reports the same thing. The announcement will be a "turning point for the automotive industry," Amnon Shashua, the chairman and co-founder of Mobileye.

Comments

AI isn't science fiction any more.

[Iamthecheese]

It's popular on Slashdot to loudly pronounce that strong AI is impossible. This is different from years past. I take the change to mean that it's coming very soon. As it seems more inevitable people who don't want change (whether out of fear, distrust, or sour grapes) will decry AI more.

Now weak AI isn't just coming. It has arrived. And Moore's law was supposed to have stopped years ago but supercomputers and video cards are still on a logarithmic slope for performance and price. The human brain is estimated to calculate between 100 petaflops and 1 exaflop. I know that's not a good metric but for this purpose it suffices. But as performance keeps doubling and doubling it becomes more evident that even the highest estimates are a question of a few more doubling periods. And the highest estimates assume direct one-to-one simulation of each neuron. Consider how many neurons are used for breathing, processing vision, and other things that either aren't needed in a machine or have already been done at a much lower computational cost on silicon.

It's true we don't know everything about how the human brain works. But recent progress is undeniable in terms of success stories. Jeopardy. Go. Commodity trading. Corporate resource balancing. Piloting. To keep shouting that strong AI is impossible is to only betray one's own insecurity. You are not special. Your brain doesn't run on quantum magic. You have no soul. Fucking deal with it.