Self-driving Car Computers May Be Bad for Emissions

Thursday, January 19, 2023

If widely adopted, self-driving cars are going to introduce another source of unaccounted-for carbon emissions that could surpass those of the world's current complement of datacenters: The computer brains that power them.

Posted by LampLighter at 10:30 AM | 9 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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...his, of course, assumes self-driving cars capable of level 4 or 5 autonomy are actually realized, but the trio of MIT researchers behind the findings say the framework they've built to model carbon emissions from computers inside autonomous vehicles (AV) should call attention to hidden carbon costs and help the auto industry plan for a greener future.

"We are hoping that people will think of emissions and carbon efficiency as important metrics to consider in their designs," said Vivienne Sze, MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and co-author on the paper. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2023-01-19 12:22 AM | Reply

A RTX 4080 uses 450 watts peak @ 110v, but Nvidia Drive's high power model is supposed to use 750 watts @ 110v, 250w for the lower power. Tesla says 35 watts for their FSD chip but it's misleading since they're on 400v architecture which would be 127 watts compared to the field.

#2 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2023-01-19 11:32 AM | Reply

but it's misleading since they're on 400v architecture which would be 127 watts compared to the field.

#2 | POSTED BY SITZKRIEG

Just a sec... what?

Power (watts) does not depend on voltage. 35 watts at 12V is exactly the same amount of power as 35 watts at 400V (though, the amperage at 400V will be significantly lower to give you the same power).

Chips don't run on 110V AC or 400V DC. The graphics cards you mention actually run on 12V DC (supplied to it by a power supply that takes in 110V AC), but usually step down that voltage to go to the actual chips (on the order of magnitude of 1V).

#3 | Posted by gtbritishskull at 2023-01-19 03:40 PM | Reply

A RTX 4080 uses 450 watts peak @ 110v

12V DC. That's what the PSU does. Converts 117V AC to 12V DC and 5V DC.

#4 | Posted by snoofy at 2023-01-19 03:47 PM | Reply

"The rate of increase in hardware efficiency needed in many scenarios to contain emissions is faster than the current rate."

Petroleum parasites do not want to make efficient EV's.

#5 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2023-01-19 04:43 PM | Reply

Don't get me started talking about flyback transformers...

#6 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2023-01-19 05:58 PM | Reply

35 watts at 12V is exactly the same amount of power as 35 watts at 400V (though, the amperage at 400V will be significantly lower to give you the same power).

#3 | POSTED BY GTBRITISHSKULL AT 2023-01-19 03:40 PM | FLAG:

I can measure it in amps if you prefer. Either way, the topic is a bit silly when it's less than 10% of what air conditioning draws.

#7 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2023-01-19 06:44 PM | Reply

12V DC. That's what the PSU does. Converts 117V AC to 12V DC and 5V DC.

#4 | POSTED BY SNOOFY AT 2023-01-19 03:47 PM | FLAG:

37.5 amps. Explains why it keeps melting connectors. That's a stupid spec.

#8 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2023-01-19 06:53 PM | Reply

A self-driving car? I'll keep my old clunker till they stop selling gas -- like they intend to do in England and Europe in about 7 years. Oh! And if there is a accident comrades, the police can ticket the computer.

#9 | Posted by wolfdog at 2023-01-20 01:43 PM | Reply