The Effects of Speed and Delays on Test-Time Performance of End-to-End Self-Driving

This study investigates the effects of speed variations and computational delays on the performance of end-to-end autonomous driving systems (ADS). Utilizing 1:10 scale mini-cars with limited computational resources, we demonstrate that different driving speeds significantly alter the task of the driving model, challenging the generalization capabilities of systems trained at a singular speed profile. Our findings reveal that models trained to drive at high speeds struggle with slower speeds and vice versa. Consequently, testing an ADS at an inappropriate speed can lead to misjudgments about its competence. Additionally, we explore the impact of computational delays, common in real-world deployments, on driving performance. We present a novel approach to counteract the effects of delays by adjusting the target labels in the training data, demonstrating improved resilience in models to handle computational delays effectively. This method, crucially, addresses the effects of delays rather than their causes and complements traditional delay minimization strategies. These insights are valuable for developing robust autonomous driving systems capable of adapting to varying speeds and delays in real-world scenarios.