Rover222 (u/Rover222)

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

dzhiurgis · 3 days ago

Which begs me the question why Tesla took so long to get here? It's only since v12 it starting to look bearable for supervised use.

The only answer I see is their goal to create global model that works in every part of the world vs single city which is vastly more difficult. After all most drivers really only know how to drive well in their own town and make a lot of mistakes when driving somewhere else.

Rover222 · 2 days ago

It was only about 2 years ago that they switched from hard coded logic to machine learning (video in, car control out), and this was the beginning of their final path they are committed to now. (building out manufacturing for Cybercab while still finalizing the FSD software is a pretty insane risk that no other company would take)

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

ra7 · 2 days ago

> The only thing LIDAR can do sense depth

This is absolutely false. LiDAR is used heavily in object detection. There’s plenty of literature on this. Here’s a few from Waymo:

https://waymo.com/research/streaming-object-detection-for-3-...

https://waymo.com/research/lef-late-to-early-temporal-fusion...

https://waymo.com/research/3d-human-keypoints-estimation-fro...

In fact, LiDAR is a key component for detecting pedestrian keypoints and pose estimation. See https://waymo.com/blog/2022/02/utilizing-key-point-and-pose-...

Here’s an actual example of LiDAR picking up people in the dark well before cameras: https://www.reddit.com/r/waymo/s/U8eq8BEaGA

Not to mention they’re also highly critical for simulation.

> It can't read road signs. It can't read road lines.

Also false. Here’s Waymo’s 5th-gen LiDAR raw point clouds that can even read a logo on a semi truck: https://youtube.com/watch?v=COgEQuqTAug&t=11600s

It seems you’re misinformed about how this sensor is used. The point clouds (plus camera and radar data) are all fed to the models for detection. That makes their detectors much more robust in different lighting and weather conditions than cameras alone.

Rover222 · 2 days ago

I think "sensing depth" and "object detection" are the same things in this debate though

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

horsawlarway · 2 days ago

An alternate take here:

The "fancy" hardware is going to get dirt cheap, and in a game where you're asking your customer to trust you with their lives, reliability is going to win. Combine that with time to market, and Tesla feels like a pretty clear "risky bet" at best... Maybe they make it work, but they have to do it before the other companies make lidar cheap, and prices have fallen dramatically over the past 10 years, for much better hardware.

Rover222 · 2 days ago

Yeah, that is all reasonable. I think the jury is still out on if sensor fusion can really get far enough up the march of nines (will it work in 99.99 percent of scenarios)? Karpathy has given some good interviews about why Tesla ditched the sensor fusion approach and switched to vision-only.

Same can be said for vision-only, of course. Maybe it won't every quite get to 99.99.

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

mbesto · 3 days ago

I own a Rivian too, and previously owned a Tesla. While I too have my gripes about the UX on the Rivian, it still beats the cr*p out of a Tesla.

Rover222 · 2 days ago

Just curious in what ways, since you've actually owned both. I've only had Teslas, but I like the looks of Rivians.

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

ActorNightly · 3 days ago

>afforadbility

This 1000%.

Electric cars are supposed to be simple. Give me something in a shape of a Civic, with the engine replaced with a motor and a battery good for 150 miles, and sell it for $10-12k new. Don't even need an entertainment cluster, give me a place to put a tablet or a phone and just have a bluetooth speaker.

Instead, we are getting these boutique, expensive vehicles packed full of tech, but in the end, they still fundamentally suck as cars compared to gas alternatives, especially hybrid. I got a Prius Prime for my wife last year, the car is way better than any EV on the market in terms of usability. Driving to work and back can all be done in EV mode easily, and then when you wanna go somewhere, you can keep the car above 80 mph easily and get there faster without worrying about where to charge.

Rover222 · 2 days ago

Sounds like you want a Nissan Leaf? They exist.

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

Rover222 · 2 days ago

Any company adding fancy hardware (beyond good cameras and inference chips) to achieve self driving is on the wrong track at this point. Software is what will win this game.

Of course, Waymo has achieved good results with A LOT of fancy hardware. But it's hard to see how they stand a chance against Cybercab mass production (probably behind schedule, but eventually).

I think Rivian has the best-looking line of EVs out there. Maybe they will be able to come from behind in self-driving tech. But this big reveal is not that promising, IMO.

Rover222 commented on Did that Colorado station sign say gas for only $1.69? Yes, it did coloradosun.com/2025/12/1... · Posted by u/mooreds

bluGill · 3 days ago

Is it? Will I be able to get parts for it 15 years from now? Will I be able to repair it myself? (I have rebuilt engines before, and I'm planning to replace the transmission in my truck myself this year, so DIY ability is important to me). There have been headlines recently about how unreliable Tesla is.

Rover222 · 3 days ago

It's the most popular vehicle in the world by most metrics, so I don't think you need to be concerned about parts. Especially if comparing to any other EV available in the US. Also extremely reliable. Don't trust clickbait headlines, look at consumer reports and satisfaction.

Rover222 commented on Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free riviantrackr.com/news/riv... · Posted by u/doctoboggan

JumpCrisscross · 3 days ago

> if you have experienced the latest FSD, Waymo's and now Rivian's bet is just so obviously the exact wrong bet

I have. It’s wild for anyone to say this.

Waymo works. FSD mostly works, and I seriously considered getting a Tesla after borrowing one last week. But it needs to be supervised—this is apparent both in its attention requirement and the one time last week it tried to bolt into a red-lit intersection.

The state of the art is Waymo. The jury is still out on whether cameras only can replicate its success. If it can’t, that safety margin could mean game over for FSD on the insurance or regulatory levels. In that case, Rivian could be No. 2 to Waymo (which will be No. 1 if cameras only doesn’t pan out, given they have infinite money from Google). That’s a good bet.

And if cameras only works, you’ll still have the ultra premium segment Tesla seems to have abandoned and which may be wary of licensing from Waymo.

Rover222 · 3 days ago

Waymo operates on guardrails, with a lot more human-in-the-loop (remotely) help than most people seem aware of.

Tesla's already have similar capabilities, in a much wider range of roads, in vehicles that cost 80% less to manufacture.

They're both achieving impressive results. But if you read beyond headlines, Tesla is setup for such more more success than Waymo in the next 1-2 years.

Rover222 commented on Did that Colorado station sign say gas for only $1.69? Yes, it did coloradosun.com/2025/12/1... · Posted by u/mooreds

ugh123 · 3 days ago

How do you verify it?!

Rover222 · 3 days ago

that's the big question haha

Rover222 commented on Did that Colorado station sign say gas for only $1.69? Yes, it did coloradosun.com/2025/12/1... · Posted by u/mooreds

bluGill · 3 days ago

So far, but it is hard to find good EVs on the used market. Sometimes you can, but at the moment I'm looking and there just are not many options at all.

Rover222 · 3 days ago

A 1 or 2 yr old Model Y is a great EV...