ABSTRACT
The human brain is extremely good at perceiving the environment around it. Indeed, it’s so good that we often take our ability for granted. When we cross a road, we look to see if there are cars approaching. If we see a car traveling towards us, we are able to rapidly estimate the speed at which it’s approaching, and can decide whether it’s safe to cross or not. Many things we do like this are pure reflex, and are based on prehistoric instincts for keeping us safe. When we look at a scene, our eyes just record patterns of light and color which are passed to the brain. Our brain then uses past experiences to interpret these patterns into an actual image. Because of the optics of the eye, we are actually seeing these images upside down, yet our brains are able to correctly interpret them, so that we can perform feats such as catching a ball. However, replicating this sort of ability in a self-driving vehicle is a challenging task.
