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.
People really need to be told "no".
Probably better to chase after flying cars..
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.
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.
It really is. The eye can detect a single photon. Fingertips can detect 13nm bumps, smaller than a transistor on Coffee-lake CPUs.
We're better off acknowledging machine limits to work on other problems instead.
No. A camera's dynamic range is pretty much fixed. If you can capture low-light objects it means high-light objects are completely blown out.
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.
[1] http://lightartacademy.com/blog/tutorials/camera-vs-the-huma...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRzXgSMbBu0
[3] https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/dynamic-range.ht...
[4] https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1187825-REG/canon_100...
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.
[1] https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/d...
[2] https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography
[3] https://www.amazon.com/Negative-Ansel-Adams-Photography/dp/0...
2. I'm not sure you can fix the exposure on "fairly cheap" dashcams.
3. "high-light" in night settings are likely much lower than standard daylight, let alone bright daylight.
Though I guess you could have an auto-exposure dashcam standard and add a low-light one which is only active in low light conditions.