You can add self-driving to non-Teslas via comma.ai's "openpilot": an open-source, LiDAR-based dashcam module

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨joshchandra@midwest.social⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/openpilot

openpilot (stylized all lowercase) is a direct competitor to Tesla’s autopilot and can apply cross-brand to almost all vehicles that have LiDAR (so, 2016+, including many Toyotas, etc.)—which incidentally bypasses Tesla’s vision issue due to using only cameras. They have a list of compatible cars on the website.

The module used to cost $3k pre-pandemic and is now less than half that. It skirts around governmental add’l requirements for driverless cars by being open-source and saying the users choose to install their own software, so it can avoid legal issues—but as a result it requires some technical know-how to set up. It plugs into that port to the bottom-left of the steering wheel, I think.

I thought of buying one years ago since YouTube videos of it look incredible, but I just don’t currently drive far-enough distances to merit having one (10-minute commute), even at its current rock-bottom price. Still, I figured, since people liked my AdNauseam notice, that I’d give more open-source exposure to the Chaotic Good denizens here.

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Comments

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taladar@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

It skirts around governmental add’l requirements for driverless cars by being open-source and saying the users choose to install their own software, so it can avoid legal issues

This would never work here in Germany where we have actual safety requirements for allowing cars on the roads.

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- FireRetardant@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  User choose to install their own software, meaning its now the softwares fault the car killed a pedestrian.
  
  I’m all for open source but even closed source profit based systems haven’t mastered self driving, this seems a little bit ridiculous to use on a public roadway.
  
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  - Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    “We told them this self-driving software isn’t for self driving, you can’t blame us” is a bit like q-tips. There’s an explicit warning on the packaging to not put them in your ear canal. But like what else do people buy them for?
    
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db2@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
No.

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- Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Insanely bad idea. You should not be honebrewing anything with the capacity to kill people.
  
  Not that Tesla’s solution is that much safer, but that’s a separate discussion.
  
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Elbow1240@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
It’s actually just camera based. There is no LiDAR.

I actually have one and I like it pretty well. They’re a bit more honest than Tesla about its capabilities and don’t actually call it self-driving. They’re very clear that it’s adaptive cruise control + lane keeping that is better than most stock systems. You should be aware though that it’s not really suitable for average users who expect a plug and play experience. Comma doesn’t offer any software support at all, and there have been a lot of recent complaints about them not being very responsive to hardware warranty issues.

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the_abecedarian@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
but please don't

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