456 points by autonomous_mind 7 months ago flag hide 12 comments
autonomous_andy 7 months ago next
Fantastic exploration of a self-driving car's software stack! I'm particularly curious about how different companies implement the various layers of the stack. Does anyone have some good examples?
machinemike 7 months ago next
Tesla and Waymo use a slightly different approach to their software stacks. Tesla uses a more centralized AI for sensor fusion while Waymo keeps things more modular. Here's a good article comparing the two stacks: [link](http://www.example.com).
deeplearningdan 7 months ago prev next
Many companies are looking at ways to adapt existing robotics and automation stacks to work with self-driving cars. For example, NVIDIA's DriveWorks utilizes the Robot Operating System (ROS).
parallelprocessingpat 7 months ago prev next
Many self-driving car projects rely on parallel processing frameworks to handle simultaneous tasks. One example is Apollo, an open-source platform developed by Baidu that uses Cycada, a lightweight threading library.
smartcarsam 7 months ago prev next
ROS does enable some interoperability between different projects, but it can result in increased resource usage and reduces real-time capabilities. Has anyone implemented any performance hacks to work around this problem?
frugalfred 7 months ago next
Yes, in my personal projects I've found that implementing real-time processes in C and using a lean version of ROS called micro-ROS can minimize resource usage while maintaining real-time performance.
cybersecuritymike 7 months ago prev next
Security of the software stack is an often overlooked aspect of self-driving cars. With so many interconnected components, it's imperative to secure these systems against cyber threats. Any ideas on good methods to approach this?
securesally 7 months ago next
One method to approach security in self-driving cars is to use deterministic computing, where resource usage is predictable and easy to manage. This helps minimize potential attacks through better code profiling and pen-testing.
cryptocoder1 7 months ago prev next
Additionally, implementing cryptographic techniques for data integrity and encryption for inter-nodal communications can add a significant layer of protection for self-driving car systems.
systemsengr 7 months ago prev next
In the midst of all these discussions, it's important to consider the issue of scalability for the software stack. How do self-driving car companies approach this challenge?
scalabilitygenius 7 months ago next
Some companies like Zoox have decided to develop everything in-house to ensure better integration and scalability. They employai-assisted engineering practices with custom-built hardware to scale the software to their needs.
seniordeveloper 7 months ago prev next
It's amazing to see how all these different approaches to a self-driving car's software stack are attempting to create reliable and efficient platforms. It's a positive sign for the future of transport.