# Can someone explain this GARBAGE?



## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

Now that the mad scramble for HW3 is ebbing, I'm just pondering Tesla's thinking. Obviously, the visualization showing stop lights, signs, and pavement marking makes sense and will likely dovetail into future FSD features. But why did someone spend time coding garbage can visualization? I can think of no logic to this, nor can I imagine why time would be spent on this instead of other useable features like other traffic signs. Maybe you're smarter than me...Why show me the curbside garbage???


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## PA_Ray (Nov 12, 2017)

Our garbage collectors often leave the bins in the street after dumping them. Can be a hazard that needs to be recognized and driven around


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

Around here garbage cans are MUCH larger than street signs (and most people too) and can be in the roadway - afaicr all street signs are out of the roadway. Street signs are usually in the same place day-to-day and month-to-month while trash cans tend to move around a lot - like they're on wheels or something.

In any case trash cans are a daily moving obstacle to be observed and avoided. Street signs are informative only - no need to change your driving path to avoid them.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

PA_Ray said:


> Our garbage collectors often leave the bins in the street after dumping them. Can be a hazard that needs to be recognized and driven around


Exactly.

I lost a side mirror on one of my minivans due to a garbage can.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

I guess it's different around here. Cans are typically left just OFF the roadway. So for me, when I'm seeing garbage cans, I kinda expect to see mailboxes too.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

The visualizations actually help the Tesla engineers test the system, to see what it's seeing without needing add-on equipment. This can be important, because ultimately when testing every possible situation, you don't want engineers to have anything a normal driver wouldn't have attached to the car.


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## TheeCatzMeow (Feb 8, 2019)

FRC said:


> I guess it's different around here. Cans are typically left just OFF the roadway. So for me, when I'm seeing garbage cans, I kinda expect to see mailboxes too.


Agree that in some areas it's not THAT BIG of a deal. However think of it this way instead... Cars/Bikes/People/Trucks/Pickups that this system visualizes I think you'd agree is 100% a must cause they are objects that move that you could hit. Trash cans are the same way... Stop Signs, Red lights, street markings (outside of changes to roadways) are permanent. It is extremely likely that at least several times a week that trash cans could be in an "unexpected location" and in extreme circumstances IE super windy day, might be in the middle of the roadway.

Trash cans will probably the first of many "roadway hazards" , like traffic cones, that they will have to program. My guess is when the look at the data coming in to the cars traffic cones were the number 1 hazard, followed by trash cans, hence the early addition.

I hope this thought process helps


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

PA_Ray said:


> Our garbage collectors often leave the bins in the street after dumping them. Can be a hazard that needs to be recognized and driven around


It's definitely this and that's the same reasoning behind cones.


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

garsh said:


> Exactly.
> 
> I lost a side mirror on one of my minivans due to a garbage can.


 Those bins can be very protective of their territory.


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## DocScott (Mar 6, 2019)

There's also the fact that they're one of the most common obstacles people face in their own driveways. On HW 2.5 we've had ours read as a pedestrian before, which can be confusing/alarming. (I know that HW 2.5 doesn't/won't get the new visualizations, but it does demonstrate a use case.)

Perhaps at some point Tesla should implement a generic "obstacle" object in the visualization. There's a lot of stuff that _can_ show up in a roadway, but doesn't show up very often. Will there be separate visualizations for, say, sofas? I doubt it. Cones have a special meaning in the driving environment. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, and pedestrians can all be expected to exhibit certain ranges of motion. At some point animals should be added as well, for the same reason. But big lumps of stationary stuff are pretty much just big lumps of stuff, no matter what their original purpose--an FSD car should just stop and/or drive around them if there's room. So those kinds of things won't need to be visually differentiated from each other on the display.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

DocScott said:


> Perhaps at some point Tesla should implement a generic "obstacle" object in the visualization.


They did.
It's called a "Cone".


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

garsh said:


> They did.
> It's called a "Cone".


 What about a cone-headed alien? Is it a cone? Or a pedestrian? YES!!


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## GRiMm-V- (Apr 27, 2018)

garsh said:


> They did.
> It's called a "Cone".


Being in PDX all this reminds me of is the "f*ken cone" meme that was all the rage last year


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

FRC said:


> Now that the mad scramble for HW3 is ebbing, I'm just pondering Tesla's thinking. Obviously, the visualization showing stop lights, signs, and pavement marking makes sense and will likely dovetail into future FSD features. But why did someone spend time coding garbage can visualization? I can think of no logic to this, nor can I imagine why time would be spent on this instead of other useable features like other traffic signs. Maybe you're smarter than me...Why show me the curbside garbage???


Well, unless Tesla decides to devote resources to code a visualization displaying Oscar the Grouch in a garage can, it doesn't bother me if it shows a potentially wayward generic trash can.


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## Mosess (Sep 13, 2018)

Elon musk has on many occasions mentioned that for FSD to be solved, computer vision must first be solved. A human uses vision for >99% of driving feedback and just as a human will understand and recognize whatever obstacle comes his/her way so must the FSD computer.
So training it to recognize objects as seemingly insignificant as a squirrel and trying to predict which direction it will run to avoid the oncoming car is just as important as training it to recognize a curb, a tree or utility pole and etc. The richer the database of recognized objects and their behaviors in many different conditions, the closer to FSD the system is.


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## eXntrc (Jan 14, 2019)

Just wanted to share some more cone testing goodness. LOL


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## WonkoTheSane (Nov 14, 2018)

eXntrc said:


> Just wanted to share some more cone testing goodness. LOL


This lockdown is having some strange effects on people.


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

What's more amazing is that she's such a good sport about all this. My wife would have only humored me for about 15 seconds and then told me she had things to do.


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## eXntrc (Jan 14, 2019)

BluestarE3 said:


> What's more amazing is that she's such a good sport about all this.


Right!?? Oh that look on her face when she first walked out in the costume. I mean, that really is the "cone of shame". But she took it all in stride, and I say kudos to them as a couple for finding silly and entertaining ways to pass the time together right now!


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## Needsdecaf (Dec 27, 2018)

Is this the aforementioned garbage can?


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