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2025-06

A simple and easy-to-understand explanation of self-driving technology

Next, let’s delve deeper—now the issues start to become somewhat complex. In our daily lives, we might instinctively believe that at every moment, we’re making our next decision based entirely on the information our eyes are currently capturing. However, reality often unfolds differently. There’s always a slight delay—from the moment our eyes detect something to when our brain processes it and sends signals to our hands and feet. This holds true even for autonomous driving systems. Yet, we rarely notice this delay because our brains automatically "predict" what’s about to happen. Even if it’s just a matter of milliseconds, our decisions are already guided by these predictive insights, seamlessly directing the actions of our body or vehicle. After all, this predictive mechanism is fundamental to maintaining our normal functioning. That’s why we’ve introduced an additional "prediction" module before the system makes its final autonomous decision. Interestingly, the perception process itself is far more intricate than it appears at first glance. If we examine it closely, we’ll find that it actually consists of two distinct stages: "sensing" and "perception." During "sensing," raw data from sensors—such as images—are collected. Then, in the "perception" stage, this raw data is transformed into meaningful, actionable information (for instance, determining how many people are in the image). As the old saying goes, "What you see is real; what you hear may not be." And indeed, the "perceived" information can further be categorized into two types: "self-perception," which pertains to the vehicle itself, and "external perception," referring to the surrounding environment. Interestingly, whether humans or self-driving cars are processing these two types of information, they often employ quite different strategies.

2025-06-15

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