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Comment by belter | Hacker News Reader

These type of questions seem to show a misunderstanding of the nature of the problem being solved. Would anybody ask "How many eyes do you need to drive a car?".

Self driving is a difficult problem because you need to:

- Decipher the nature of the objects in the 3d space you are moving on.

- Predict how their physical relationship to your current position will change according to current timeline and intentions of these objects.

- Explore the plane of possible deviations for each of these objects and be able to react accordingly.

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> Would anybody ask "How many eyes do you need to drive a car?".

I think this is an oversimplification. People don't ask that question because humans have many many more senses they drive with than just our eyes. Humans even have accelerometers. If someone said "I'm deaf, blind in one eye, and can't sense acceleration" people would probably ask if they are fit to drive. Just being deaf is enough to start that conversation. The AARP even mentions that if someone is deaf, they should seriously consider not driving. The conversation of sensor fusion is important because humans require sensor fusion to be effective drivers too.

https://www.aarp.org/auto/driver-safety/driving-with-hearing...

Exactly, we obviously drive with more than our eyes. Any undergrad psychology class should given you a hint about that

This reminds me of all the conversations about AI And LLMs now - people are making false comparisons because they don’t have a grasp of basic cognitive science, things we’ve known for 50 or more years

From stereo hearing on a head that can be moved at will, to feeling the car "under your butt", and an innate understanding of other humans' movements both as pedestrians and drivers. Just to name a few.

It really is astonishing gow much goes into it.

I drive (raced in the past) and fly. I also occasionally play flight sims and racing games with some appropriate accessories.

I am terrible at the sims. I am literally seconds faster in a real car (on a 62 second circuit) than the sim, due to all the additional sensory input in reality. I can barely land a simulated plane but have not messed up a landing since training over three decades ago.

So, yes, it is astonishing how much all our senses go into driving, beyond sight.

Also reading! Imagine how disoriented you feel driving in a foreign country with signs you can’t read

Or using google maps in a language you can’t read!

Anyone over 65 should seriously consider not driving, at least at night. Reaction times slow, night vision is poor/glare from oncoming headlights is worse. I'm not even 60 yet and I don't like driving at night anymore. The insanely bright, white, pinpoint headlights on modern cars make it that much worse.

I'm halfway my 30s and I have special driving glasses to get rid of the glare.

Coming from Europe with the ECE standard DOT standards suck. Much more glare.

And then the lifted cars & trucks with no adjustments.

And it's especially bad in places that don't have some yearly car check.

When I first moved here it felt like 'awesome, no need to get in line for my car check'.

Now I'm like: yea, it helps. Implement those car checks.

I'm 50 and I can see just as well at night as I can in the daytime. Presbyopia means I cannot clearly read the instrument cluster without my glasses on, but I can read the text message the guy three cars in front is sending. Not that you should really need to read much on the gauges anyway - all the things that are going to get you into an accident are outside the car, and that's where your attention needs to be.

> Not that you should really need to read much on the gauges anyway - all the things that are going to get you into an accident are outside the car

Not always. If you don't spot that your engine temperature is rising, or your fuel level is low, you might suddenly find yourself sitting in a non-running car on a busy expressway, as opposed to having a least a few minutes to find a safe place to pull over.

Best to develop a habit of continually scanning the gauges, mirrors, while your primary focus is on the road ahead. That way you are aware of the operating condition of your car and the traffic all around you, not just in front of you. You only need quick glances at the dashboard and mirrors to stay on top of things.

That is not the core reason why I provided that example.

What I meant to say, is that having 2 eyes or 20 eyes will not help if you are not able to decipher scenarios that require a semantic understanding of the current real life movie you are in.

A cyclist made sign with the hand too brief to catch, or a soccer ball just run to street so maybe a child is running after it, or a temporary deviation on the road where the police expects you to drive off road for a few seconds and is sending you manual signs.

None of the current self driving solutions is able to handle these. 1 or 20 cameras, 2 Lidars or 50 Lidars will do nothing to address the problem.

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