Sensor Fusion for AI Driverless Cars, Bringing It All Together

Dr. Lance B. Eliot, AI Insider

Sensors provide data that gets “fused” during sensor fusion stage

Let’s consider three main system functions of self-driving cars: (1) car sensor-related system functions, (2) car processing related functions that we tend to consider the AI of the self-driving car, and (3) car control related functions that operate the accelerator, the brakes, the steering wheel, etc.

I am going to discuss herein mainly the sensors and an important aspect of sensory data usage that is called sensor fusion. That being said, it is crucial to realize that all three of these main subsystems must work in coordination with each other.

If you have the best sensors, but the AI and the control systems are wimpy then you won’t have a good self-driving car. If you have lousy sensors and yet have strong AI and controls capabilities, you will once again have likely problems because without good sensors the car won’t know what exists in the outside world as it drives and could ram into things.

As the Executive Director of the Cybernetic AI Self-Driving Car Institute, I am particularly interested in sensor fusion, and so I thought it might be handy to offer some insights on that particular topic. But, as noted above, keep in mind that the other subsystems and their functions are equally important to having a viable self-driving…