I was thinking about self driving cars, and was wondering if google street views could be used to support optical ray tracing of objects that the car sees.

A user tells the car to go from a to b, the cars computer downloads the latest maps and Google street-views.

Sensors that self cars use

GPS.
Lidar to 3D Map.
Radar.
Infrared.
Ultrasonic.
Cameras will feed image processing units and will use optical ray tracing of environment and other cars.
Microphones.
Wheel speed sensors.
Inertial measurement unit.
Reading of road lines, road reflectors.
Reading of underground road sensors.
Reading of road signage, speed signs and digital speed indicators.
Reading of overhead scrolling Freeway or highway information.
Reading of WiFi signals.
Reading of Google street views.
Reading of Google maps.

and if I recall, when I asked how long it would take from Newrybar ridge to Byron Bay, I thought BS, I won’t be able to get there that quickly but I did. The big problem was from Byron Bay to Byron Bay. Google had no idea at that point.

IIRC GPS is currently only down to a few metres so satellite navigation on vehicles isn’t currently feasible. Soon though it will be down to centimetres so satnav in conjunction with self-driving sensors should be possible in a few years time. The greatest benefit of this would be control of cars en masse to keep a safe distance and speed between cars on the same road and put an end to traffic jams as we now know them.

Witty Rejoinder said:

IIRC GPS is currently only down to a few metres so satellite navigation on vehicles isn’t currently feasible. Soon though it will be down to centimetres so satnav in conjunction with self-driving sensors should be possible in a few years time. The greatest benefit of this would be control of cars en masse to keep a safe distance and speed between cars on the same road and put an end to traffic jams as we now know them.

cars using google earth could be rather interesting when gogle earth does things like this…

That’s all part of the thrill of the open road.

Witty Rejoinder said:

That’s all part of the thrill of the open road.

Indeed, we all take it on with increasing regularity.

Tau.Neutrino said:

I was thinking about self driving cars, and was wondering if google street views could be used to support optical ray tracing of objects that the car sees.

A user tells the car to go from a to b, the cars computer downloads the latest maps and Google street-views.

Sensors that self cars use

GPS.
Lidar to 3D Map.
Radar.
Infrared.
Ultrasonic.
Cameras will feed image processing units and will use optical ray tracing of environment and other cars.
Microphones.
Wheel speed sensors.
Inertial measurement unit.
Reading of road lines, road reflectors.
Reading of underground road sensors.
Reading of road signage, speed signs and digital speed indicators.
Reading of overhead scrolling Freeway or highway information.
Reading of WiFi signals.
Reading of Google street views.
Reading of Google maps.

There is really no need for all that tech.

I could make a self driving car argorithm that contains only a single sensor, a single video camera.

Though a map would help.