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  "documentTitle": "Aurora Innovation, Inc. (AUR)",
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  "authorName": "Kerrisdale Capital",
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  "notes": "This is a text-heavy research note page from Kerrisdale Capital. It critiques the 'modular-architecture' paradigm used by companies like Waymo.",
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      "text": "It's expensive and cumbersome to scale the industry-standard modular architecture.",
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      "text": "A lot of manned testing and driving in the new conditions... A lot of HD mapping, which allows the vehicle to precisely place itself in 3-dimensional space, ensuring the performance and safety of the model.",
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      "text": "The way this limitation is expressed in the industry is that the modular architecture works in the context of its Operational Design Domain (ODD)... Expanding beyond the base ODD is not trivial and requires:",
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      "text": "today. You could probably throw darts at any of the autonomous vehicle companies that have been around for at least five years and you're probably gonna find something quite similar. It's the outliers like Tesla and Wayve that are doing things maybe a little bit differently.",
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      "text": "It's expensive and cumbersome to scale the industry-standard modular architecture. In the words of the previously referenced Waymo engineer we interviewed:",
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      "text": "Before discussing the self-driving attempts by Tesla and Wayve (and Waabi), the primary reason those companies are approaching the autonomous driving problem differently is that the current modular-architecture paradigm has very real limitations...",
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      "text": "creating and updating HD maps can cost as much as $1,000/km, necessitating frequent updates to keep up with changing road conditions. — Applied Intuition",
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      "text": "1 As of January, 2024, and it changes over time.",
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