From: lexfridman
## Rodney Brooks' Perspective on Autonomous Driving
Rodney Brooks, a renowned roboticist, provides a comprehensive insight into the landscape of autonomous driving and its developments. With vast experience as a co-founder of companies like iRobot, Rethink Robotics, and Robust.AI, Brooks shares his views on the progress and challenges within the field of autonomous vehicles.
### Historical Milestones
The journey of autonomous driving technology has seen several significant milestones. Brooks highlights that the first car to travel autonomously over 55 miles per hour for over 10 miles on a public freeway with other traffic was in 1987 in Munich by the Bundeswehr <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="00:58:56">[00:58:56]</a>. He also points out that in 1995, a vehicle managed to drive across the United States coast-to-coast without continuous human control, though not entirely hands-off <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="00:59:30">[00:59:30]</a>.
### Current Developments in Vision-Based Systems
Brooks comments on the advancements in [Autonomous Driving Technologies](autonomous_driving_technologies) led by companies like Tesla. He acknowledges the impressive engineering behind Tesla's decision to pursue vision-based methods without relying on radar. Despite his initial skepticism, he was surprised at how well vision-based systems alone could handle various driving tasks <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:02:02">[01:02:02]</a>.
### Challenges and Expectations
Rodney Brooks voices concerns about the premature expectations and over-generalization from demos of autonomous vehicles. He warns against assuming that achieving impressive demonstrations equates to the technology being ready for widespread use <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:00:57">[01:00:57]</a>. Brooks emphasizes that the acceptance of autonomous vehicles will not match the tolerance for human driver errors, predicting that any autonomous systems responsible for more than 10 annual fatalities could face significant public scrutiny <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:05:03">[01:05:03]</a>.
### Infrastructure Modifications
Brooks suggests that achieving large-scale [Autonomous Vehicle Technology Development](autonomous_vehicle_technology_development) may require substantial infrastructure changes, similar to the historical introduction of cars, which altered cityscapes and legal systems <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:06:12">[01:06:12]</a>.
### Future Predictions and Outlook
He provides predictions on the future presence of autonomous vehicles in major cities. Brooks speculates that fully autonomous taxi services in complex environments like San Francisco's grid streets might still be a few years away <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:30:39">[01:30:39]</a>. However, he envisions limited applications in controlled environments, such as corporate campuses and retirement communities <a class="yt-timestamp" data-t="01:34:38">[01:34:38]</a>.
> [!info] Rodney Brooks' Approach
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> Rodney Brooks's cautious yet optimistic vision frames the continuous innovations in autonomous driving as a challenging but achievable frontier, contingent on pragmatic engineering decisions and societal adaptations.
## Conclusion
The advancements in vision-based autonomous systems mark a significant shift in autonomous vehicle technology. While there are impressive innovations, Rodney Brooks underscores the importance of tempered expectations and the potential need for extensive infrastructural changes to accommodate the new technology safely.