How Einstein helped invent driverless cars

[django]

@Moonlight @Zibago @jamahir @Levina @Nilgiri @war&peace @The Sandman @Hell hound @RealNapster
By Jenn Virskus
Einstein’s theory of relativity is at the heart of self-driving car technology.
Self-driving cars are making headlines every day, but did you know that we might have Albert Einstein to thank for them? It turns out that two of Einstein’s cornerstone theories are the basis for technologies that make driverless vehicles possible.

The beloved genius published his general theory of relativity in 1915, which is now stored at the official Albert Einstein archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Widely regarded as one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century, Einstein’s theory has led to a vast number of technologies. Those include GPS, without which driverless cars wouldn’t know where they’re going.

Waze, the Google-owned mobile traffic app developed in Israel, is at the forefront of using GPS technology for automobile navigation. The satellites that power GPS systems use clocks accurate to a few nanoseconds but the effect of gravity on Earth throws off the clocks by 7,000 nanoseconds every 24 hours.

In order to make GPS navigation as accurate as it is, the satellites have to take the relative effect of gravity into account. That means that without Einstein’s theory of relativity, a GPS unit that tells you it’s a half-mile until your next turn would be five miles off after only one day.

But that's not all. In 1917, Einstein published his quantum theory of radiation, which basically described how to build a laser – the word is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Today, lasers are at the heart of the sensor technology that allows driverless cars to actually “see” the road and other vehicles and obstructions around them.

A major component of Google’s self-driving car is a laser range finder rotating rooftop camera called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The camera uses 64 high-intensity laser beams to create 3D images of objects around the vehicle and calculates how far an object is based on the time it takes for the laser beams to hit the object and bounce back.

The drawback to LiDAR technology has been that it's both large and very expensive – more expensive, in fact, than the cars that used them. That is, until now. Two Israeli startups are working to develop a smaller, less expensive version of the technology.

Innoviz Technologies has developed a LiDAR system that it says will cost only $100 and is eight cubic inches. Oryx Vision has developed an alternative to LiDAR, which uses a combination of laser and radar technology that the company says can detect objects and how far away they are, but also how fast they may be moving toward the vehicle. Innoviz just unveiled its high-definition solid state LiDAR, while Oryx says it has proved its theory but is still working to develop a working prototype of the system.

Einstein couldn’t possibly have predicted all of the things his theories have led to – optical data storage, laser tattoo removal or the ability to detect light from the beginning of time, not to mention cars that could drive themselves – but his work plays a role in so many aspects of our lives.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where Einstein worked from 1933 until his death in 1955, said it best: “Let us never forget the power of one individual to single-handedly change everything we know about our place in the universe.”

 

[jamahir]

@django @Hamartia Antidote @KapitaanAli @Levina


I am confused about one thing in the vid : "Time in the satellite above the surface of the Earth is flowing fast than on the surface of the Earth"

Is it because the Earth is simply rotating slower than the satellites are orbiting, or is there a more exotic answer ??

Innoviz Technologies has developed a LiDAR system that it says will cost only $100 and is eight cubic inches. Oryx Vision has developed an alternative to LiDAR, which uses a combination of laser and radar technology that the company says can detect objects and how far away they are, but also how fast they may be moving toward the vehicle. Innoviz just unveiled its high-definition solid state LiDAR, while Oryx says it has proved its theory but is still working to develop a working prototype of the system.

Israelis are rather innovative people. No doubt.

 

[django]

@django @Hamartia Antidote @KapitaanAli @Levina


I am confused about one thing in the vid : "Time in the satellite above the surface of the Earth is flowing than on the surface of the Earth"

Is it because the Earth is simply rotating slower than the satellites are orbiting, or is there a more exotic answer ??



Israelis are rather innovative people. No doubt.

The stronger the gravitational field the slower the observers time passes, in regards to the Earth a satellite will experience a slight increase in the rate of passage of time compared to an observer on Earth,,, however, increased velocity has the converse effect, thus slowing down time for the satellite, so in the end it will be determined by the velocity and how far out the satellite is.......Israelis/Jews are indeed innovative as they come(Einstein, Feynmann, Teller, Von Neuman, Weinberg...)Kudos bhai

 

[war&peace]

I am confused about one thing in the vid : "Time in the satellite above the surface of the Earth is flowing fast than on the surface of the Earth"

Hey ... there's nothing to confused, the closer you are to huge mass (source of gravity) the slower the clock ticks.. that's the relativity theory.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Israelis are rather innovative people. No doubt.

I have to agree with Musk that LIDAR (in it's present form) shouldn't be the primary thing to rely on with driverless tech. It simply doesn't work well in rain, snow, and fog. So you are going down a route full of limitations (and shortcuts).

His assertion is that humans using just their eyes and sheer brainpower can process the situation and make decision in ALL conditions (well most situations). He knows machines have the ability to see better than us and the only issue is the brainpower. If you solve that the car should drive just as well as a person. I don't think he uses GPS to stay in the correct spot in the road..but just like a paper map...it is used for directions.

 

[war&peace]

The stronger the gravitational field the slower the observers time passes. in case of Earth a satellite will experience a slight increase in the rate of passage of time compared to an observer on Earth,,, however, increased velocity has the converse effect, thus slowing down time for the satellite, so in the end it will be determined by the velocity and how far out the satellite is.......Israelis/Jews are indeed innovative as they come(Einstein, Feynmann, Teller, Von Neuman, Weinberg...)Kudos bhai

Einstein was a Jew but calling him an Israeli is wrong.. He even rejected the offer to be the first president / prime minister of the zionist state.

 

[django]

Einstein was a Jew but calling him an Israeli is wrong.. He even rejected the offer to be the first president / prime minister of the zionist state.

True,,but he was a staunch supporter of Israel as are many atheistic Jewish physicists.Kudos bhai

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I am confused about one thing in the vid : "Time in the satellite above the surface of the Earth is flowing fast than on the surface of the Earth"

Is it because the Earth is simply rotating slower than the satellites are orbiting, or is there a more exotic answer ??

Relativity is science that has to be seen to believe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafele–Keating_experiment

"The Hafele–Keating experiment was a test of the theory of relativity. In October 1971, Joseph C. Hafele, a physicist, and Richard E. Keating, an astronomer, took four cesium-beam atomic clocks aboard commercial airliners. They flew twice around the world, first eastward, then westward, and compared the clocks against others that remained at the United States Naval Observatory. When reunited, the three sets of clocks were found to disagree with one another, and their differences were consistent with the predictions of special and general relativity"

 

[Nilgiri]

@Moonlight @Zibago @jamahir @Levina @Nilgiri @war&peace @The Sandman @Hell hound @RealNapster
By Jenn Virskus
Einstein’s theory of relativity is at the heart of self-driving car technology.
Self-driving cars are making headlines every day, but did you know that we might have Albert Einstein to thank for them? It turns out that two of Einstein’s cornerstone theories are the basis for technologies that make driverless vehicles possible.

The beloved genius published his general theory of relativity in 1915, which is now stored at the official Albert Einstein archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Widely regarded as one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century, Einstein’s theory has led to a vast number of technologies. Those include GPS, without which driverless cars wouldn’t know where they’re going.

Waze, the Google-owned mobile traffic app developed in Israel, is at the forefront of using GPS technology for automobile navigation. The satellites that power GPS systems use clocks accurate to a few nanoseconds but the effect of gravity on Earth throws off the clocks by 7,000 nanoseconds every 24 hours.

In order to make GPS navigation as accurate as it is, the satellites have to take the relative effect of gravity into account. That means that without Einstein’s theory of relativity, a GPS unit that tells you it’s a half-mile until your next turn would be five miles off after only one day.

But that's not all. In 1917, Einstein published his quantum theory of radiation, which basically described how to build a laser – the word is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Today, lasers are at the heart of the sensor technology that allows driverless cars to actually “see” the road and other vehicles and obstructions around them.

A major component of Google’s self-driving car is a laser range finder rotating rooftop camera called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The camera uses 64 high-intensity laser beams to create 3D images of objects around the vehicle and calculates how far an object is based on the time it takes for the laser beams to hit the object and bounce back.

The drawback to LiDAR technology has been that it's both large and very expensive – more expensive, in fact, than the cars that used them. That is, until now. Two Israeli startups are working to develop a smaller, less expensive version of the technology.

Innoviz Technologies has developed a LiDAR system that it says will cost only $100 and is eight cubic inches. Oryx Vision has developed an alternative to LiDAR, which uses a combination of laser and radar technology that the company says can detect objects and how far away they are, but also how fast they may be moving toward the vehicle. Innoviz just unveiled its high-definition solid state LiDAR, while Oryx says it has proved its theory but is still working to develop a working prototype of the system.

Einstein couldn’t possibly have predicted all of the things his theories have led to – optical data storage, laser tattoo removal or the ability to detect light from the beginning of time, not to mention cars that could drive themselves – but his work plays a role in so many aspects of our lives.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where Einstein worked from 1933 until his death in 1955, said it best: “Let us never forget the power of one individual to single-handedly change everything we know about our place in the universe.”

You should be tagging @abcxyz0000 and @Salik too

 

[django]

You should be tagging @abcxyz0000 and @Salik too

They will bring in talk of neutrinos,,,,will fry my mind lol.Kudos bhai

 

[Nilgiri]

I am confused about one thing in the vid : "Time in the satellite above the surface of the Earth is flowing fast than on the surface of the Earth"

Gravity is something that acts upon the "absolute" frame of reference (space-time)...and thus the more or less you have of it in a spot distorts how time passes in those spots (compared to each other). Think of gravity like a thick viscous fluid like honey...it will slow down things the thicker it is....but the thing does not really get to compare that to say how it moves in a thinner fluid....because it has no absolute perspective on those fluids (until it has an Einstein to develop a theory regarding those).

A similar thing happens purely by the velocity you are travelling at too (in the same fluid/ether). If you hold the speed of light to be another absolute reference (no matter how fast you are travelling)....the faster you travel at means you necessarily have to have time slow locally (given you still observe light travelling at same speed). This has been verified by many different experiments around Einsteins time (to both try disprove and prove his theory back then).

It is somewhat an onion layered development. Einstein started out by questioning every single frame of reference that was taken to be an absolute at that time.....by simple thought experiment (if in deep darkest space an object is travelling with nothing near it or around it....is there any way for it to know its velocity?...or if it is even moving?). Given you always measure your velocity in reference to something else (think about it, when you are sitting down...you say you are still....but are you really still?...given you are currently orbiting the Sun at phenomenal velocity...the sun itself is travelling at a huge velocity through space and the galaxy itself is expanding away from the point of the big bang at an astronomical velocity etc...though this last one was not yet known in Einsteins time yet).

Einstein basically ended up at the speed of light being the absolute reference....and from that he derived the theory of special relativity (which was quickly proven by many experiments...i.e doesnt matter if you are moving a detector of light or if it is at rest.....it measures the speed of light to be the same...which naturally means that time itself has to provide the "slack"...given we all can think of situation ourselves on a moving train and a train with different speed going on track next to us should look different to us compared to someone standing observing both on the ground...but it DOESNT HAPPEN with light..scary!).

Later he broadened it to general relativity (general things that can act on space-time reference)...which includes gravity. His first thought experiment concerning this one was...if you removed the sun from the center of solar system suddenly....would the planets immediately experience that (and hurtle off into space tangentially to their orbits) or would it take time (at the speed of light - about 8 minutes to Earth) for that effect to happen?

General relativity has many experiments that have proven a large degree of it, but absolute proofs (like that found with special relativity) are ongoing given the vast ever increasing scales needed to get around a lot of the localised effects (to present yourself with truly "different enough" local references to compare). It has actually been argued that it can never be truly absolutely proven....but just a high degree (and can be made higher as more experiments become feasibly available to us) of confidence can be ascertained on it (given the nature of infinity itself - as Georg Cantor expanded upon).

 

[Skies]

this is one of the best videos to me to understand relativity

..if you removed the sun from the center of solar system suddenly....would the planets immediately experience that (and hurtle off into space tangentially to their orbits) or would it take time (at the speed of light - about 8 minutes to Earth) for that effect to happen?

Is not the intensity of gravity around the every planet will change (if the sun is reproved from the center) and then the time to feel that effect will change also?

 

[Nilgiri]

Is not the intensity of gravity around the every planet will change (if the sun is reproved from the center) and then the time to feel that effect will change also?

Current theory of gravity in general relativity is that gravity is not instantaneous (in the absolute sense), and any ripples (caused by sudden significant perturbations) move at speed of light. Basically space-time "fabric" speed is the speed of light itself...and gravity (i.e mass) acts instantaneously on the fabric itself....but other mass some distance away on the same fabric requires the "ripple" to reach them (at speed of light).

Where general relativity remains unproven (given space time is supposed to be the universal reference) is how certain other exotic forces and matters (which we know not much about yet... if at all) past the known classical ones ..... may act upon space-time esp once we use large enough distances (and times). It is somewhat an open bound issue compared to special relativity (which is far more specific in its bounds).

 

[The Sandman]

@Moonlight @Zibago @jamahir @Levina @Nilgiri @war&peace @The Sandman @Hell hound @RealNapster
By Jenn Virskus
Einstein’s theory of relativity is at the heart of self-driving car technology.
Self-driving cars are making headlines every day, but did you know that we might have Albert Einstein to thank for them? It turns out that two of Einstein’s cornerstone theories are the basis for technologies that make driverless vehicles possible.

The beloved genius published his general theory of relativity in 1915, which is now stored at the official Albert Einstein archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Widely regarded as one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century, Einstein’s theory has led to a vast number of technologies. Those include GPS, without which driverless cars wouldn’t know where they’re going.

Waze, the Google-owned mobile traffic app developed in Israel, is at the forefront of using GPS technology for automobile navigation. The satellites that power GPS systems use clocks accurate to a few nanoseconds but the effect of gravity on Earth throws off the clocks by 7,000 nanoseconds every 24 hours.

In order to make GPS navigation as accurate as it is, the satellites have to take the relative effect of gravity into account. That means that without Einstein’s theory of relativity, a GPS unit that tells you it’s a half-mile until your next turn would be five miles off after only one day.

But that's not all. In 1917, Einstein published his quantum theory of radiation, which basically described how to build a laser – the word is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Today, lasers are at the heart of the sensor technology that allows driverless cars to actually “see” the road and other vehicles and obstructions around them.

A major component of Google’s self-driving car is a laser range finder rotating rooftop camera called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The camera uses 64 high-intensity laser beams to create 3D images of objects around the vehicle and calculates how far an object is based on the time it takes for the laser beams to hit the object and bounce back.

The drawback to LiDAR technology has been that it's both large and very expensive – more expensive, in fact, than the cars that used them. That is, until now. Two Israeli startups are working to develop a smaller, less expensive version of the technology.

Innoviz Technologies has developed a LiDAR system that it says will cost only $100 and is eight cubic inches. Oryx Vision has developed an alternative to LiDAR, which uses a combination of laser and radar technology that the company says can detect objects and how far away they are, but also how fast they may be moving toward the vehicle. Innoviz just unveiled its high-definition solid state LiDAR, while Oryx says it has proved its theory but is still working to develop a working prototype of the system.

Einstein couldn’t possibly have predicted all of the things his theories have led to – optical data storage, laser tattoo removal or the ability to detect light from the beginning of time, not to mention cars that could drive themselves – but his work plays a role in so many aspects of our lives.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where Einstein worked from 1933 until his death in 1955, said it best: “Let us never forget the power of one individual to single-handedly change everything we know about our place in the universe.”

This went over my head oh god me and physics/maths are just not compatible