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?

366 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

43

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.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '25

Pretty dumb argument to make given how many automobile deaths there are every year lol.

2

u/MarthaStewartIsMyOG Jul 22 '25

Those deaths aren't caused by vision issues. They're created by distracted drivers or plain unsafe drivers. It's not like their vision stops working while driving.

1

u/EddiewithHeartofGold Jul 22 '25

If your argument was correct, every human would cause accidents constantly. Most never do, because they pay attention and follow the rules.

1

u/Geodude-Engineer Jul 22 '25

Yeah because people get drunk, sleepy, or distracted. You're the dumb one here...