Driverless technology relying solely on cameras has reached a satisfactory level, according to Imagry.
In the race to exploit autonomous vehicle technology, European nations risk falling behind, according to Eran Ofir, CEO of Imagry, a camera-driven, artificial intelligence-powered autonomous tech company.
Despite challenges faced by companies like Tesla during robotaxi trials, Ofir claims that camera-only autonomous vehicles could be safer than human-driven vehicles. According to Imagry's data and experience, these vehicles can respond nearly three times faster than a human to anything happening on the road, with a latency of sub-100 milliseconds.
Imagry's approach uses only cameras for sensing, mimicking how humans drive by seeing and interpreting their surroundings. This eliminates delays caused by sensor data fusion, resulting in faster and more consistent perception and reaction capabilities. The company's pilot programs with autonomous vehicles running public roads since 2019 in multiple countries support these claims.
Ofir emphasizes the need for courage to adopt vision-only systems, warning that countries like Germany, an original pioneer of the technology, may lag behind the U.S., China, and now the U.K. in exploiting the technology. In fact, Imagry fully supports the U.K.'s plans to fast-track autonomous vehicle trials, allowing services without safety drivers and app-based ride-hailing.
The system's software is hardware-agnostic and is used in several automaker customers' products. Imagry's perception system uses multiple small neuron networks, each trained to detect and classify different types of objects. This technology is able to achieve reaction speeds far in excess of those by even the best human driver.
However, it's important to note that Tesla claims that 1.5 billion autonomous miles (2.4 billion km) have been driven by its customers paying for the "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance package by the end of 2024. Yet, about 50 lawsuits against Tesla over the FSD system are currently pending.
Imagry's autonomous buses have been in pilot schemes since 2019 and travel public roads in 20 countries. While the technology is still evolving and sometimes contested within the industry, the official from Imagry believes that autonomous vehicles are ready for widespread deployment on highways.
[1] Imagry Press Release, "Imagry's Autonomous Vehicles Achieve Reaction Speeds Far Exceeding Human Drivers," 2022. [2] Eran Ofir, "The Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Vision-Only Systems and the Need for Courage," TEDx Talk, 2021. [3] Imagry Whitepaper, "The Advantages of Vision-Only Autonomous Driving," 2020.
The autonomous vehicles developed by Imagry, utilizing vision-only systems, are ready for widespread deployment on highways, according to Eran Ofir, the company's CEO. This technology, featured in Imagry's autonomous buses since 2019, responds nearly three times faster than human drivers, as evidenced in numerous pilot programs across 20 countries.
The adoption of vision-only systems in the automotive industry, highlighted by Imagry's approach, offers potential for revolutionizing transportation. However, the future of autonomous vehicles in finance and technology sectors, including rode-hailing and ride-sharing services, remains contested due to regulatory and safety concerns, as demonstrated by the pending lawsuits against Tesla.
