03. Role in AI

Computer Vision's Role in AI

The basis of any AI system is that it can: 1) perceive its environment and 2) take actions, based on those perceptions. And computer vision is used to perceive and construct a physical model of the world, so that an AI system can then take the appropriate action.

It's important to note that vision is only one aspect of perception. Just think of how you observe the world: through sight, but also through smell, sound, and many other "sensors" that humans have. It's the same with AI systems; computer vision is just one - visual - way to perceive physical surroundings.

More on the Self-Driving Car

In the case of self-driving cars, computer vision is used to analyze the visual input from cameras mounted on the car (computer vision is not used to analyze data from other sensors like radar, and LiDAR, which uses\ radio waves and lasers respectively). Computer vision is used to look at images and video data to intelligently detect lane markings, vehicles, pedestrians, and other elements in the environment, in order to navigate safely!