Geohot opened autopilot source code for cars

Working prototype of the automatic control system of a car from a startup Comma.ai

Hacker Geohot ( George Hotz ) has achieved a lot. At age 17, he managed to crack the iPhone, three years later, he released a jailbreak for Sony PlayStation 3. And Hotsu managed to avoid a lawsuit with the corporation. A couple of years ago he started a more serious project - the creation of an autopilot for passenger cars.

And in fact he managed almost alone to fulfill his plan. He assembled an unmanned vehicle in his garage , after which he demonstrated the capabilities of the system to many journalists in technological and financial media. As reported, the system is based on the self-learning process of a neural network. A little later, Geohot announced its intention to launch its system for sale at a price of $ 999 . But it did not work out.

At the end of October of this year, George Hots received an official request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The request indicated the requirement for Hotsa to provide detailed information on the developed system of automatic driving. The letter, in particular, indicated that the autopilot manufacturer is subordinate to Section 301 of the Safety Act and to regulation by the National Traffic Safety Directorate.
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If Hots does not send a response on the product before November 10 of this year, he is threatened with a fine of $ 21,000 per day. As a result, the developer decided to abandon the idea of ​​selling the autopilot in the United States and went to China.


For several weeks nothing was heard from him. But the other day, he made himself felt, saying that it was decided to open the Comma One project (this is the name of the autopilot). The source code of the autopilot for passenger cars was published in the public domain . Published as a code, and detailed information about the hardware of the system. All materials are supplied under the MIT license .

On Wednesday morning, Hots held a press conference in San Francisco, where he revealed details of the upcoming changes in the activities of his startup Comma.ai.


Sketch of Comma Neo

The project received the new name Open Pilot, and any person or company can take advantage of it. The system is adapted to work with Honda Civic 2016 Touring Edition and Acura ILX 2016 cars. The autopilot does not start immediately, but when it reaches a certain speed. For Acura it is about 40 km / h, and for Honda - 25 km / h.

Geohot also talked about creating a new prototype called Comma Neo. Here, however, we are talking about "hardware platform for research activities." As far as one can understand, the developer decided to circumvent the limitations of American regulators by changing the positioning of the system.


Working prototype of Comma Neo

You can assemble Comma Neo yourself, for this you will need parts from your OnePlus 3 smartphone, a 3D printer and soldering skills. At the conference, Hoz avoided answering questions about whether it is planned to release a new system to the markets of the United States or other countries. "We do not deliver the product," - the only thing he answered. “We distribute only a preliminary version of the software solely for research purposes. We do not give any guarantees. ”

When asked whether the Comma.ai startup is planning to start making money, Hots said: “How are the money earned? Our goal is to create our own network. We want to have a network of autonomous cars. ”

It is worth noting that a startup receives funding from various investors. In particular, Comma.ai previously received about $ 3 million from the venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz, founded by Mark Andressen and Ben Horowitz. By the way, the same company invested $ 50 million in Skype for a 2% stake in September 2009.

Hots compared Open Pilot with Android, saying that this is a project that will be of interest to "researchers and people who like" automatic control technology. This project is “for people who want to go to the future.”

All new and new developers, among whom there are quite famous people, are connecting to a startup. For example, a former Tesla employee who developed the Autopilot began working at Comma.ai. Last month, Google’s ex-Google employee Michael Graczyk joined the startup. If the company manages to solve the problem with the authorities, then it is quite possible that in the near future, the cars of many manufacturers will ride the roads of different countries on their own, with minimal driver participation in the process of driving.