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by passwordoops 1226 days ago
>We've been a year away from full self driving cars for the last six years

Try at least 12 [0]

(I would say 15 but my 45-second search didn't yield anything that far back)

[0] https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-google-self-driving-car-works

1 comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I39sxwYKlEE was a self-driving van in 1986 which could detect obstacles by 1999 and drive in a convoy using that.

This is a bit like seeing Steve Mann's wearable computers over the years ( https://cdn.betakit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Wearcompe... ) and then today anyone with a smartphone and smart watch has more computing power and more features than most of his gear ever had, apart from the head mounted screen. More processing power, more memory, more storage, more face recognition, more motion sensing, more GPS, longer runtime on battery, more bandwidth and connectivity to e.g. mapping, more assistants like Google Now and Siri.

And we still aren't at a level where you can be doing a physical task like replacing a laptop screen and have your device record what you're doing, with voice prompts for when you complete different stages, have it add markers to the recording, track objects in the scene like and solve for questions like 'where did that longer screw go?' or 'where did this part come from?' and have it jump to the video where you took that part out. Nor reflow the video backwards as an aide memoire to reassembling it. Or do that outside for something like garage or car work, or have it control and direct lighting on some kind of robot arm to help you see, or have it listen to the sound of your bike gears rattle as you tune them and tell you or show you on a graph when it identifies the least rattle.

Anything a human assistant could easily do, we're still at the level of 'set a reminder' or 'add to calendar' rather than 'help me through this unfamiliar task'.

Wow - Steve Mann - haven't checked what he's doing in ages - real blast from the past :-) I was really disappointed the AR/VR company he was with went under - I had really high hopes for it.

RE: changing you laptop screen. My buddy wants an 'AR for Electronics' that can zoom in on components like a magnifying glass (he wants head mounted), identify components by marking/color/etc and call up schematics on demand. So far, nothing seems to be able to do that basic level of work.

Did you notice how far rotated the steering wheel is off of center while the Mercedes van vehicle is going straight on the highway? That looks crazy.