Product Demonstration, Fireside Chat
Comma.ai Drive and Tour with George Hotz and Lex Fridman
- Comma 2 hardware shipments are contingent on the development of a holistic, end-to-end longitudinal policy capable of stopping at stop signs, with the system currently utilizing Hyundai's policy which is deemed competent for highways but not ideal for cities.
- The company plans to switch all longitudinal controls to Open Pilot upon the completion of end-to-end longitudinal capabilities, with Open Pilot 1.0 arriving at that time and Comma 2 receiving an Open Pilot 1.1 update via over-the-air delivery.
- Future system expectations include handling double yellow lines, mountain drives, and roads without lane markings, with specific capabilities to navigate three lanes on curvy, banked roads and manage lane changes in unmarked conditions via end-to-end processing.
- The company targets 30 million open-pilot miles and anticipates a future state where users can engage the system on highways without needing to manually manage intersections or disengage during long trips to Los Angeles.
- Current engagement metrics based on botnet data project that approximately 50% of miles and 30% of time will be engaged, with disengagements split evenly between canceling, accelerating, and braking.
- Operational plans include lowering wheel touch time-out thresholds, hiring a specialist to manage a 21st-century compute farm, and moving all processes to a system referred to as "pie torch."
- Infrastructure projects involve a compute cluster containing three racks with 2 petabytes of spinning disks, utilizing V100 GPUs for processing and RTX 3080s in desktop computers for non-business purposes, alongside an expanded 3D printing operation with roughly 20 printers.
- Manufacturing processes for the growing harness involve manual assembly compatible with various Hyundai models, while device testing includes 24-hour hold periods for "Komatoos" to assess heat, temperature, light sensors, and cosmetic screen integrity.
- The Kama 2 hardware is expected to receive the 1.1 software update as the hardware evolves, with the San Diego office remaining downtown and potentially relocating to a site with mountain views to support a live link to the Europe office.
- Strategic outlooks describe the Comma 2 as the company's profitable "big breakout" product, with the Kama 2 system and AI team projected to be impressive, while the company acknowledges risks regarding bugs, dust in printers, and unresolved hardware issues like device number 49.
- The company views the current system as not yet a useful product for city streets without end-to-end longitudinal control, noting that the stock system's braking is often too harsh compared to human driving and that mastering lateral turning is more difficult than longitudinal control.
- Corporate governance includes maintaining the mission at the top of the vision board, censoring top-secret information when necessary, and recognizing that the Open Pilot 1.0 vision board contains tasks not expected to be completed soon.