George Hotz setup Comma.ai company and worked on a commercial project called Comma One to add autonomous driving to some car models, but then the US highway authorities started to ask questions and promised ever increasing fines if he could not comply with some specific safety regulations/requirements, and eventually he decided to cancel the project due to the regulatory burden. A few weeks passed since the cancellation, and he has now released Open Pilot auto-pilot software and Comma NEO a work-in-progress open source hardware platform connecting to Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 powered OnePlus 3 smartphone to run the software.
The system is said to implement “Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) for Hondas and Acuras”, and performs about the same as “Tesla Autopilot at launch, and better than all other manufacturers”.
Open Pilot currently only supports the Acura ILX 2016 with AcuraWatch Plus and the Honda Civic 2016 Touring Edition, but since the software is open source, it should be possible to adapt it to other Honda and Acura models with some tinkering, and other car manufacturers could also be added to the list but would require much more work. The system leverages the cars’ cruise control system which becomes disabled at lower speed, so self-driving only works at higher speeds, 18+ mph or 25+ mph depending on the car’s model.
The video above should be using Open Pilot software, but I’m unclear which exact hardware it is using (Comma One or Comma NEO).
The software also has the following disclaimer “THIS IS ALPHA QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A PRODUCT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLYING WITH LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED”. But if it does not bother you, George has put together a step by step guide showing exactly how to buy all parts (~$700) from 6 different shops, solder the components to NEO Rev A board, wire and test the board, and assemble the case.
Via Arstechnica and Nanik.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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This is totally crazy!
kickstarted the idea.they are betters ways to implemented and to get by for federal laws
then the s820 processor will be open source in future?
They call it “open”, but the most important part of the software, visiond, is binary only.