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Modern Non-LLM AI

Autonomous Driving

The hard problem of getting AI to navigate the physical world reliably

What it is

Autonomous vehicles use stacks that typically include: perception (cameras, LiDAR, radar → detected objects), prediction (where will other agents move?), planning (what should the car do?), and control (how to execute the plan). Modern approaches increasingly use end-to-end learned systems rather than hand-engineered modules.

Waymo's robotaxis in San Francisco and Phoenix demonstrate that technical solutions exist for well-defined geographic areas. The remaining technical challenges include rare edge cases, adverse weather, and robust 3D perception.

The primary blockers are regulatory (different rules city by city, high incident scrutiny) and liability (who is responsible when an autonomous vehicle causes harm?), not purely technical.

Why it matters

Autonomous driving illustrates the gap between "technically works in controlled conditions" and "deployable at scale", a lesson that applies broadly to AI products. The regulatory and liability frameworks developed here will likely inform AI regulation in other high-stakes domains.

Resources

How Autonomous Vehicles Work: The Self-Driving Stack
mobileye.com· Excellent walkthrough of the full AV software stack (sensing, perception, mapping, planning, control) from an industry practitioner. Great diagrams of sensor fusion and late vs. early fusion. Fills the "how does the AI stack work" gap.
12 min
How Do Autonomous Vehicles Decide?
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov· Academic but accessible overview of the perception→planning→control pipeline. Covers SAE levels, finite state machines for decision-making, and the core challenges of the field. Good for recruits wanting more depth.
15 min
Waymo and Tesla's Self-Driving Systems Are More Similar Than People Think
understandingai.org· Excellent 2025 article comparing Tesla's end-to-end approach vs. Waymo's hybrid modular approach. Accessible, journalistic, and current. Great for understanding the actual landscape without car-review fluff.
12 min
How Do Self-Driving Cars Work?
ni.com· Clean beginner-level overview of LiDAR, radar, cameras, SAE levels, and the software pipeline. Good starting-point resource for non-technical recruits.
8 min