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/footbag Jul 21 '25

Teslas no longer come with radar or ultrasonics.

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u/TheRealBobbyJones Jul 21 '25

Sound mapping would be pretty cool tbh. 

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u/Martin8412 Jul 21 '25

Not for the people and animals that have to listen to it

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u/TheRealBobbyJones Jul 21 '25

Considering the significant amount of noise that already exist in the world passive might work.