A lone hacker, known as ‘geohot’, challenged the concept of crowdsourcing by outperforming Comma.ai, a self-driving car company that relied on crowdsourced data. Geohot, or George Hotz, a famed hacker who jailbroke the iPhone and hacked the Sony Playstation, built a self-driving car in his garage, using a 2016 Acura ILX equipped with lasers, radars, and cameras.
His approach contrasted starkly with Comma.ai’s ethos of crowdsourcing data from drivers to train their self-driving system. Instead, Hotz used machine learning algorithms to teach his car how to drive, based on his own driving habits.
Hotz’s success in building a self-driving vehicle single-handedly raises questions about the efficacy of crowdsourcing. His story suggests that, in some cases, a single, dedicated individual may be more effective than a crowd of contributors. The implications of this could be significant for the tech industry, where crowdsourcing has become a common method for data collection and problem-solving.
Despite his success, Hotz faced challenges, including a cease-and-desist letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, forcing him to halt his project. Yet, his achievement remains an impressive testament to the potential of individual innovation. His work serves as a stark reminder that the age-old adage of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ might still hold true in the era of technology and innovation.
Go to source article: https://medium.com/backchannel/how-a-lone-hacker-shredded-the-myth-of-crowdsourcing-d9d0534f1731