Mobileye is making significant progress with its self-driving vehicle technology. But the company’s prototype hit a bit of a snag recently while representatives were showcasing its abilities to journalists.
While demonstrating its latest technology for Israel’s Channel 10 news, the Level 4 self-driving vehicle ran straight through a red light, just a quarter-mile from the company’s headquarters in the Israeli capital. And that, we needn’t point out, is a big no-no.
According to Bloomberg, the transmitters used on Channel 10’s own cameras caused interference with the vehicle’s processors in the trunk and camera sensors on the roof. So while it apparently recognized the traffic signal, and even appears to have slowed down, it proceeded through the intersection all the same. The problem is reportedly already being addressed, with Mobileye installing additional shielding to keep outside devices from interfering with its operation.
Recently acquired by Intel for over $15 billion, Jerusalem-based Mobileye is testing prototypes capable of operating semi-autonomously at the fourth of five identified self-driving levels. It’s not the first company to reach that level, but the novelty here is that Mobileye’s vehicle (based on a Ford Fusion/Mondeo) does so using only cameras. Radar and LIDAR sensors are set to be deployed as redundant measures, meaning that the vehicle can drive itself only using the cameras, and revert to the radar and LIDAR only when the cameras aren’t doing the trick.
You can see the error taking place in the video below, which is presented in Hebrew. You don’t need to understand the revived ancient language, though, to see what’s happened after the 4:27 mark.