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Ex-Apple Engineers Unveil a Next-Generation Sensor For Self-Driving Cars (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the game-changing dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Aeva, a Mountain View, California-based startup founded only just last year, has built what its two-cofounders claim is a next-generation version of LIDAR, the 3D mapping technology that has become instrumental for how self-driving cars measure the distance of objects and effectively see the road in front of them. And today, the company is officially unveiling its product, a tiny box that can more directly measure objects in a given scene and the distance and velocity of those objects relative to one another.

Aeva's technology is able to separate objects based on distance and whether the object is moving away from or toward it. It's also able to measure the velocity of the object, which enables the software to predict where cars and pedestrians are going. The company even says its sensing system is capable of completely shutting out interference from other, similar sensors -- including those from other companies -- and operating in all weather conditions and in the dark, thanks to a reflectivity sensor. Not only is Aeva's version of LIDAR superior to the variety found in most self-driving test vehicles on the road today, the company says, but the lightweight, low-power box it's housed in also contains all the other types of sensors and cameras necessary for an autonomous vehicle to see and make sense of every component within its field of vision. Aeva's new system sounds a lot more promising when you consider the company's co-founders, Soroush Salehian and his business partner Mina Rezk, are former Apple engineers who both worked on Apple's "Special Projects" team. Although they will not say so, they likely helped progress the company's secretive autonomous car division. The Verge notes that Salehian also "worked on developing the first Apple Watch and the iPhone 6, while Rezk is a veteran of Nikon where he worked on optical hardware."

32 comments

  1. oh my! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With the current trends I just read the title as "Next-Generation Censor".

  2. Walk Away from Corporate Social Just-Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Free Software developers of the world, open your eyes! Our communities are being raped, our work pillaged.

    Detestable villains - mean spirited, belligerent, racist, unprincipled - are using underhanded tricks to force hypocritical "Codes of Conduct" on the projects we built.

    The only purpose of these CoCs is to allow so-called "Progressives", who have contributed nothing to the project, to conduct witch hunts against anyone who opposes them. Thereby they plan to steal our work for their shadowy corporate paymasters.

    You can readily tell these CoCs are not about "just being nice" - because they are ALWAYS supported by the very LEAST NICE, most aggressively mean and shamelessly bigoted people you can imagine.

    If a project to which you contribute has been raped by CoC-mongers there is a simple solution: WALK AWAY. Never contribute again. If you have a patch almost ready, count the time you spent on it as a loss and throw it away. If you see a security issue, remain silent and do nothing. IT'S NO LONGER YOUR PROJECT. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME THERE.

    If you are evaluating new software, don't even consider any projects burdened under the tyranny of a CoC. Their technical merits do not matter - just don't consider them. Never be openly political, always make up a technical reason for rejecting CoCed projects.

    Don't argue in public about the CoC. Doing so only exposes you to needless risk. You might be dis-employed, blackballed, and even set up for a #MeToo purge. Just stay far away.

    Comrades: Individually we are powerless, and easily crushed beneath the iron boot of Corporate Social Just-Us. But together in solidarity we are millions and we are strong. The Internet itself depends on our collective labor. If we stop working, the internet stops working.

    Free Software developers, save yourselves and save your communities! Just WALK AWAY from any project with a CoC. Without our labor they are nothing.

    1. Re: Walk Away from Corporate Social Just-Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Fuck off, Nazi.

    2. Re: Walk Away from Corporate Social Just-Us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      F off, communist.

  3. AC Unveils A First Post For Slashdot Readers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    enjoy it, m'ladies

  4. Ex xxxx engineers? by Albanach · · Score: 1

    What are we supposed to make of this credential? Ex Apple engineer makes new sweatshirt, Ex Google engineer makes new ice cream scoop.

    If you're fired from Silicon Valley, is the next move to make anything, advertise it online and describe as having been invented by an ex big-tech engineer?

    1. Re:Ex xxxx engineers? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      I have to agree.
      Working for a popular company, even one with rigorous hiring standards, doesn't make you actually qualified or actually good at your job.

      I have had people applying for a job where I worked, only to stop the process when we press every employee to take a test to evaluate their skill sets. Some of them actually tried to pull off a bluff like "I worked for such and such a company, I am insulted that I should take such a test!" After that statement that is the end of such person prospects at the company. Those who take the test, a lot of them pass and do well, some fail miserably, more or less the same percentages as those who worked in IT at a State job, education, or just some unknown small company.

      You may be a part of Mensa, Had worked in Google and Apple. However you may just may still be really bad at your job. Perhaps having your Ego get in the way onto learning something new. Or being large companies, you just put your effort into slacking off, and finding ways to blame problems on someone else, or just blending in and not getting noticed.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  5. Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    I worked for a company that runs trucks around that scan pavement, and assess it for cracking and whatnot. They also gather imagery, etc, and LIDAR information.

    Every time the trucks start to collect the operator needs to spend an hour or so polishing the sensors with special lint free cloths.

    They can't collect in the rain or snow or other inclement weather. Just a little bit of grit will destroy the equipment, they can't collect on dirt or gravel.

    These sensors are mounted at the back of the trucks, it would be even worse if they were mounted up front.

    Self driving cars won't ever work. Sensors will never "self clean" the way your eyeballs do when you blink.

    1. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only there was a material or a location sensors could sit in that protect other sensors that don't like getting wet or dirty..

    2. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Rei · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I just think lidar is misguided. It's an easy way to get "part of the way there", but no further. It has the same weaknesses as your visual cameras; why would you run your sensors in the same frequency spectrum and subject to the same weaknesses (such as weather)?

      The big thing LIDAR has over radar is resolution (particularly vs. lower frequency radars). But... well, "and"? You still need visual processing from cameras to identify the object either way, so how critical is the resolution on your ranging system anyway? You just need a return, you don't need it to identify the return for you. There are various other advantages and disadvantages to each, in that they can each be "tricked" in various ways and some things are very visible to one but not to the other (e.g. small chunks of jagged metal in the road = very visible to radar, not lidar; moderate-sized chunks of plywood or fibreglass = very visible to lidar, not radar). But if you have your cameras working on the visible spectrum, you really want some other spectrum giving some other insight. Radar also has the advantage of being simply-steered (via a phased array), rather than requiring a rotating dome.

      And there's real potential for other insights for radar, beyond just seeing metal debris very well, seeing through weather, in some cases being able to see past the car ahead of you, etc. For example, radar can be used to measure the texture of a surface, on a scale proportional to the wavelength of the beam (the rougher the surface, the more the backscatter). So depending on what frequency you probe with, you could be measuring anything from potholes to ice. Seeing where a shoulder looks weak, seeing where something might be slick, etc, etc - important things in terms of deciding how to drive, and a sense beyond that of humans. No systems (AFAIK) do this today, but the potential is there, and it's some serious potential.

      Also, the resolution issue can be (to some extent) overcome. The minimum resolution you can see is proportional to the radar's aperture. If automakers wanted to, they could dramatically increase the effective horizontal resolution by having radar antennas on opposite sides of the front of the car (or the rear, for rear-facing radar). Now you have a virtual antenna the width of the entire vehicle.

      I mean, if LIDAR can be implemented cheaply enough, with minimal power consumption, and it's just a low-cost, no-drag-added addition to your cameras... sure. But that's not even close to the description of LIDAR at present. Maybe time-of-flight cameras would be a suitable replacement.

      --
      "Close the door! What, were you born in a barn?" -- Police chief, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
    3. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It appears that the Aeva device moves the calibration, computation, and sensor fusion into one black box that includes other sensors. The advantage is reduced risk and domain expertise for the end system integrators (car manufacturers). LIDAR is optical; optical sensors do not work well in fog; the Aeva box has other sensors too. With Aeva in control of the sensor fusion, there may be less risk of programming error in the sensor fusion from car manufacturers that don't have the incentive to spend time on sensor fusion code. I can see this being a repair advantage too -- when a sensor breaks, swap out the entire Aeva black box for a factory-calibrated Aeva black box, instead of installing a new sensor and having to recalibrate the entire car. Some of the claims are weak -- "we can tell whether an object is moving away or towards the car" really means they compare the LIDAR returns to current vehicle speed interpreted by the INS (GPS + many-axis accelerometer).

    4. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Sensors will never "self clean" the way your eyeballs do when you blink.

      Automobiles will never replace the horse and buggy.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    5. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Put them behind the windshield then.

    6. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's what I've been saying for years. Self-driving cars (en masse) will not happen in our lifetimes.

    7. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by andydread · · Score: 2

      what about "sensor fusion" between radar, lidar, and FLIR?
      That way the system can have a better picture of what's going on.

    8. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You say that but even having sensors inside the wind screen would not protect them. All that crap you have to clean off the inside of your windows and wind screen are oils and polymers exuding from the plastics breaking down inside the passenger cabin, combined with all the crap you breathe out and sweat when you're in the vehicle.

    9. Re:Hi Here Is Some Facts About Vehicles and Laser by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Put them behind the windshield then.

      Specifically, between the rear view mirror and the windshield, where it won't affect the driver in any way. Or give it its own wiper and washer, like euro cars do with headlights. Either way it's a trivial problem in the grand scheme.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Does Ex Apple people make it better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple people do not have some magic power to invent better stuff. I have to think much of these sensors will more likely end up in something less then self driving vehicles. All of them will have to obtain a squeaky clean test record before anyone begins to trust this technology.

  7. The only important information is missing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Informative

    LIDAR is not a new invention. What would differentiate this device from other LIDAR devices already on the market would be cost. If this is substantially cheaper than other LIDAR implementations, it is relevant. If it is the same price, then nobody cares. There are two LIDAR arrays promised under $50 and one under $100.

    What is the cost per device anticipated to be? That is literally the only relevant factor.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:The only important information is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Size is also important. Lidar currently requires large "warts" to be added to cars. For taxis and google cars this is fine, for people's personal transportation it has to be invisible.

    2. Re:The only important information is missing by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Size is also important. Lidar currently requires large "warts" to be added to cars. For taxis and google cars this is fine, for people's personal transportation it has to be invisible.

      Depends on the person. "Appearance" for some people plays a big role. For others, such as myself. Appearance means very little. I'd drive something as ugly as the old Pontiac Aztec IF it were otherwise the best vehicle for me.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:The only important information is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "What would differentiate this device from other LIDAR devices already on the market would be cost."

      No! This LIDAR can measure speed & direction of all object around; not just their locations!
      A VITAL capability for autonomous driving/piloting (for their future move planning)!

    4. Re:The only important information is missing by rfengr · · Score: 1

      Appearance and size. They want it all. I thought size was not supposed to matter?

    5. Re: The only important information is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The solid state lidars are supposed to not only be cheap, but more durable (no mechanical parts) and smaller (no need for mechanical parts). But until solid state lidars are available commercially like maybe 5 years from now, yeah it might fill the gap in between.

    6. Re:The only important information is missing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      No! This LIDAR can measure speed & direction of all object around; not just their locations!

      Yeah, that's what you use LIDAR for. Normally that functionality has to be performed by additional hardware, by processing the sensor data. It's not clear that you want that functionality baked into the sensor package, because then you're dependent on the sensor manufacturer to perform that processing intelligently, to keep up with their updates, etc.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. New? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Aeva is an interesting company, but one of 50+ new entrants in the automotive LiDAR in recent years.

    Fusing camera with LiDAR? Aeye has been doing this for a long time.
    Coherent LiDAR detection that measures velocity as well as distance? Blackmore and Strobe (and others) do this too.

    Marketing departments need to do what marketing departments do, I guess.

  9. Ex Apple Engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are literally tens of thousands of those. There are so many it's commodity. For some reason it count as streetcreds to be ex Apple engineers?

    I would think it means something if talking about ex-CEOs..... .... Actually forget it... one is dead and the other one still alive is a loser and general douchebag.....ok he dead one is a douchebag too, but not a loser.

    1. Re: Ex Apple Engineers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hate to say this..... but the dead one is a loser too.....

      Well ..... I'll sound like a douchebag if I state what he lost to.... but I think you already know so i'll keep my decency.

  10. bugs, leaves, rain, snow by rapjr · · Score: 1

    Seems like any optical system will stop working the first time a bug, leaf, rain drop or snow hits it's lens and sticks. You can coat the lens to make it easier for the wind to blow them off, but in general the optics could be instantly obscured at any time, which basically means the car would have to stop immediately.

  11. Google and Apple misdirection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Both Apple maps and Google maps recently took me on a more dangerous route than what was needed -- for some reason they choose to take shortcuts through neighborhood roads instead of staying on the main roads, and then they try to make corrections with u-turns and more risky left turns than what would have been needed -- on the last trip, one of them tried to deliver me to a car dealership instead of the place I was looking for -- if this is what the future looks like, I don't want it -- I'm going back to writing up my own directions on paper before taking trips to new areas

  12. The only ex - Apple people to respect by Brockmire · · Score: -1

    Are the marketing guys. They are not given enough credit in making Apple fan bois.

  13. Here is what they are doing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://www.pitt.edu/~drn16/conferencePaper.pdf

    This is the theory paper on the tech. and as further proof, here is AEVA's hiring site looking for an FPGA engineer.

    https://jobs.lever.co/aeva/84cdf11c-0f55-4181-be5d-3e682cb4b314

    your welcome all.