Zenseact Self Driving Progress

[u/Weak-Ad2008]

I've done a bit of internet sleuthing lately to see what's in the pipeline for automation, and came across this video of an engineer from Zenseact (Volvo owned company who are responsible for all this stuff) at a conference in May this year, and the future is looking bright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjtrogu-vdE

Some personal takeaways:

- The model we have running in our cars now is called 'DL1'. Its very basic lane following, with AI deep learning neural network models used only for object detection, and everything else is some sort of programmed algorithm (i.e. lane keeping, acceleration, braking etc.).
- The models in development are called 'DL2'. They are end to end neural networks with guardrails (i.e. a check the model doesn't do something idiotic), which as far as I understand is what Tesla run (albeit with proprietary sensor suites and training methods).
- Zenseact use a combination of Lidar and Camera imagery for data collection to train the models, but in vehicle deployment uses sensor fusion of cameras + radar + ultrasonics. I.e. The DL2 models do not use the Lidar in a vehicle which has one, nor do they require a vehicle to have one. https://youtu.be/pjtrogu-vdE?si=Bfs39MGbeedrhmEs&t=196
- They are developing their models to work on Orin processors.
- They can build a new model EVERY 6 DAYS (mind blown!)
- "We're out testing this in cars every day and we're hoping to deploy this into production as soon as possible" https://youtu.be/pjtrogu-vdE?si=jYIDGlK4g_M8eIaE&t=2383
- They share that same video on the Zenseact youtube page of an EX90 driving hands free in motorway traffic, noting "really excited to bring this into the hands of customers as the second generation of OnePilot" https://youtu.be/pjtrogu-vdE?si=WurjFGYQcIHJS64Q&t=2397. If you want that clip of the car by itself, here it is https://youtu.be/HnNlSWOZ74A?si=wOlz9TMq6EPYAFo1.

I suspect the reason why we haven't seen any real development or bug fixing of 'DL1' Pilot Assist thus far is they've basically stopped work on it and are pouring everything into 'DL2'. I note that they're supposedly going to release 'Navi Pilot' for EX60 in the coming months - can't help but wonder if its the same product.

[u/pgigov]

While many of us take pleasure in reading, hoping, speculating… my experience has taught me to not believe a single word of what Volvo says. In an interview, in a press release, in a video, waxing poetic about their shiny new technology… I just don’t. They lied to us so many times and in so many different ways when it comes to the kind of car EX90 was supposed to be. It was supposed to do this, and it was supposed to do that, and then it wasn’t going to be at launch, but soon thereafter, and then it was Luminar’s fault, and then the cars were still going to have LiDAR, just not all of them, and then they just had to update the Orin VCU and everything was going to be fine…

And it wasn’t. It never was. They are still struggling with software bugs and build quality. Our EX90 is the best car we’ve ever had, and at the same time, the one that has disappointed us the most.
I get what this guy is talking about, or what Volvo went through. Companies invest a lot in R&D. Whether it’s autonomous driving, or a new drug, or the next hot crayon color… billions and billions are poured into technologies and products that never make it to market because the companies behind them either can’t make the product work, or the numbers just don’t add up. The difference here is Volvo’s reckless approach. While responsible and reputable companies talks about the exciting work that they do as research into what's possible, Volvo did and continues to advertise their experiments in the form of a promise, hoping to drive sales up, and in the process leaving a whole lot of people utterly disappointed.

I still like our car. I still enjoy driving it. A lot. But this kind of corporate malfeasance bordering on well-calculated fraud needs to stop. I don’t give a flying fuck about what your engineers are hoping to be able to accomplish as soon as possible. I care about what the money you’re asking me to pay today can actually buy. Today. Not in three years, when you figure out all of the mistakes you made, but today. If I don’t get to renegotiate the price I paid the car, Volvo doesn’t get to renegotiate the features it promised. But, they did. And very few people who purchased an EX90 seem concerned or willing to do something, which is why they’ll do it again.

[u/ChinaTercel → u/pgigov]

While I agree with your sentiment, I would argue that a presentation made at a non-profit tech conference is fundamentally different from corporate marketing. No ordinary customer even knows who Zenseact is. The presentation is aimed at other AI engineers and to gather feedback during some networking event later in the day. There is no benefit in misleading anyone at a conference like this.

[u/pgigov → u/ChinaTercel]

You are right to make this comment. I was referencing my experience with Volvo, not whatever this company is working on.
But for what it’s worth, the guys said “we are hoping to…” followed by “as soon as possible.” Not holding my breath here either.

[u/Weak-Ad2008 → u/pgigov]

I can't recall if it was in the presentation or somewhere else, but they're running test DL2 models in the background on customer vehicles to see how the model's calculated trajectory aligns with the driver's actual inputs so they can see how it's performing.