Is Lidar intended to be a better ultrasonic device, or a better camera? I thought it is the later. Maybe its both?
Also how can a camera sense the speed of the objects around you? Thats the job of a radar or ultrasonic, correct?
Also on the same lines how can the camera sense the distance to an object? with two cameras you can get which one is farther and which one is closer - a 3D view - but not how much is the distance between you and the objects.
I don't see why even stereoscopic vision would be required for autonomous driving. Proof is in the budding; people can drive with one eye. Stereoscopic vision is most useful when objects are near your eyes. Your brain can then deduce the relative distance of the objects by comparing (among other things) angular differences. The importance of stereoscopic vision is quickly diminished at larger distances because the angular differences become negligible.
You determine the distance between you and objects by applying several different techniques simultaneously. One is the size of the object; a car that is seen as a tiny spec must be pretty far away. Another is the relative size of objects; a truck that seems to be as large as a small japanese car must be further away than the latter. An object that seems to grow in size rapidly is probably approaching you at high speed and further assessment can be made by comparing the position of the object to it's surroundings etc. Computers with neural nets can apply similar techniques and there are more than just the ones that I mentioned.