> How DOS-able would LiDAR be? Would I be able to bring traffic downtown LA to a halt in 2040 by bringing my portable LiDAR jammer?
Even that will not be necessary, a splat of dirt on the sensor is enough.
I don't understand their obsession with LADARs. MM wave radars were successfully handling the same task in the industry for a few decades while being much cheaper and reliable.
NIH too strong. I feel calling that here is 100% appropriate and objective.
Radar is very useful but doesn't replace a lidar. Radars give very accurate readings of an objects distance and relative velocity but very poor angular resolution. For that reason they aren't much use for avoiding stationary objects since those are hard to distinguish from the ground, signposts, etc. At least until they get so close that the radar field of view lets you rule out those things.
They are really great at figuring out whether cars are braking, though, since cars are moving with respect to the ground you can just filter the ground out and with radar you can sense the change in speed directly rather than having to figure out the speed by comparing distance over time.
EDIT: Actually, I think automotive radars don't give any directional information at all since they don't use big dishes. I'm used to working with aerospace radars but even with those I wouldn't rely on one for car navigation.
> Radar is very useful but doesn't replace a lidar.
It does, and quite well. Without any additional processing, you easily get few cm accuracy, and sub-wavelength resolution is possible if you do. That's more than enough.
Latest automotive radars use electronic beam steering – not much different from what is used in latest missiles.
I'd say, companies opting for ladars for driving assists don't have good engineering expertise.
The brains processing the output certainly don't do that (emergency break logic is much simpler than automatic obstacle avoidance,) but nobody prevents making them do so by throwing more processing power on that.
Even that will not be necessary, a splat of dirt on the sensor is enough.
I don't understand their obsession with LADARs. MM wave radars were successfully handling the same task in the industry for a few decades while being much cheaper and reliable.
NIH too strong. I feel calling that here is 100% appropriate and objective.