Scout Driver Assistance will be camera based system (no Radar or LIDAR)

[NukeDukem]

They work OK in the daytime, but I wouldn't trust it at night or reduced visibility. I guess I just like to be in control.

Nothing wrong with that. We did find that driver aids like lane keeping make for a more relaxed drive. Before Musk killed the radar on our Model 3, the autopilot was really nice on long, boring drives. I arrived with much more energy and was ready to unpack and explore our destination. Whereas in the past, I was ready to hit the sack

 

[Soccermike]

It worked just as well at night. If there was too much snow or fog it ensured that I was the one driving.

Camera only systems don't provide safety when most needed, sun in your eyes and dense fog. Radar does! I have personally seen the subaru system go off line because the sun blinded it.

Team Radar!

 

[smboogie]

Wow that's just dissapointing. While camera's have gotten good I think having additional information makes the auto drive much safer. An easy example is camera based systems vs Waymo system on total miles driven & number of incidents.

 

[maynard]

I've never been a fan of any kind of 'super-cruise', just let me drive the dang thing!

 

[Uncle Spade]

All I really want is lane-keep assist and emergency braking assist when the cruise control is activated, just in case I get distracted. I will always intend to have eyes on the road, hands on the steering wheel, and foot ready to brake, regardless of the self-driving technology used.

I think it's a good decision by Scout to keep the cost of engineering and equipment at a reasonable level so more people can afford their vehicles.

This is the correct answer. (IMHO)

 

[rfk]

This is the correct answer. (IMHO)

https://www.carscoops.com/2023/07/volvo-ex90-delayed-until-next-year-because-of-lidar-complexity/

https://carup.se/volvo-ville-sla-tesla-med-ex90-vi-varnade-dem/

 

[TwoJacks]

I love adaptive cruise control but always turn off lane assist or lane keeping as both cause you to lose focus on driving and neither can be fully trusted. The “driver must pay attention” thing is a joke because human nature is to not pay attention if a car uses fsd-like tech. Coukd care less if scout uses lidar or not as I’ll just turn it off anyway.

 

[ScoutChamp]

25:58 - all camera based. That said, VW has the tech, so nothing is really set in stone, and stones can even change with time.

All camera based... I wonder if Scout is considering IR or thermo cameras?

 

[NukeDukem]

All camera based... I wonder if Scout is considering IR or thermo cameras?

One could only hope. Our Tesla’s self-driving systems are useless now that Musk disabled our radar remotely.

 

[Scout]

There is no way that I trust that technology, especially by the end of 2027. I don’t plan on being anyone’s guinea pig either, so I have no intention upon purchasing that option. I would imagine it’s going to be pretty expensive and I’m already spending enough.

 

[ScoutChamp]

May need to be a combination (LIDAR, Cameras, Thermal Imaging, FLIR...) to protect us from large animals and to protect pedestrians..

Maybe autonomous vehicles will drive improvements in the technology....

..."around 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur in the US annually. ....And based on 1,012,465 deer-vehicle collisions and 96 million hourly traffic observations across the United States, we show that collisions are 14 times more frequent 2 hours after sunset than before sunset....* https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01615-3

Future Ford Vehicles Could Get Large Animal Detection System
"...proposed system would utilize a thermal camera capable of detecting large objects such as animals, even in dark conditions..."
https://fordauthority.com/2024/08/future-ford-vehicles-could-get-large-animal-detection-system/

This may be something to watch. Scout could incorporate this type of technology in its vehicles https://www.tomsguide.com/vehicle-t...ighttime-driving-safer-and-its-a-game-changer

 

[NukeDukem]

This may be something to watch. Scout could incorporate this type of technology in its vehicles https://www.tomsguide.com/vehicle-t...ighttime-driving-safer-and-its-a-game-changer

That is pretty cool. In the future, we won’t have windshields. We’ll have a giant display up front.

 

[Mousehunter]

I like playing around in the night - thermal is a real game changer. That said, there is no such thing as good inexpensive thermal. Thermal can not see through glass. Lenses have are generally made out of germanium - which is not much less expensive than gold apparently. There are a few other materials that can be used (but I don't know of which units actually use other materials - maybe even higher end models than I have ever looked at).

Pretty much the best semi-affordable thermal sensors are 640x480. There are higher definition units, but all that I am aware of that are higher definition require active cooling to operate. Even the 640x480 have to be "reset" fairly often as they change temperature while they are operating, and the internal temperature changes mess with the sensors. Ones not on vehicles tend to hit an equilibrium after a few minutes and don't need resets much after that - but on a vehicle, I bet the temps can change from hill top to hill bottom.

Looking at 640x480 systems, I don't think I have seen any cheaper than $3k. Thermal is regulated by ITAR - so there is a huge issue there. Fusion thermal for civilians is VERY expensive. Fusion generally refers to using multiple types of camera and blending the images (generally with software - abet poor man's fusion can project the thermal image into one of the other sensors view - that is as far as I have played with, one sensor handles resolution, the lower resolution thermal handles detection). Not sure if fusing multiple thermal images into one (go get better resolution) is still technically fusion, but it is probably the same problem and expense. Thermal is very dependent on conditions. When conditions are good, it is mind blowing. When conditions are not - everything just disappears. IIRC fog is the worse, but there are times ambient is very close to body temp. I guess I am saying it is not a silver bullet. I don't know how it compares to other options, I have never played with radar or lidar.

Over 10 years ago, I heard of thermal being intigrated into HUDS in cars. I still only know of a couple of brands that have tried it.