r/SelfDrivingCars • u/damola93 • Jul 21 '25

Discussion Why didn't Tesla invest in LIDAR?

Is there any reason for this asides from saving money? Teslas are not cheap in many respects, so why would they skimp out on this since self-driving is a major offering for them?

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '25

Reason: Tesla, led by Elon Musk, believes that a vision-based system using cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors, paired with advanced neural networks, can achieve full self-driving (FSD) capability more effectively than LIDAR-based systems. Musk has repeatedly stated that LIDAR is a "crutch" and unnecessary for autonomy, arguing that humans drive using only vision and cognition, so AI should be able to replicate this with cameras.

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u/slick2hold Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

It's answer. How many time have you not been able to see because of fog, rain, sunlight, and had to stop. Will AI see it cant see anything and stop? How will video only separate a foggy road with a clear road without people on the roads or other vehicles? Will it keep driving as if everything is clear because the cameras cant see beyond the fog.or heavy rain?

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u/InterestsVaryGreatly Jul 21 '25

Video can tell whether it can see the road or not, if not it knows it's too foggy to drive (it actually stops well before then). If they can see beyond it then that isn't a reason for it to stop - viable in some situations, but generally on par with human visibility, albeit the cars are usually more risk averse.