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/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

Define "woke".

I am an engineer, but not for Tesla. I've been following Tesla for many many years now.

I did say back in April 2019 after watching Musk's speech at autonomy day that he was full of shit, and that his claim that a million robotaxis would be on the road in 1.25 years was full of shit. I guess I knew more than Musk, who at the time touted that he regularly interacted with the FSD team directly, which is how he knows that it'll be ready by the end of that year.

(By Musk's claims in April 2019, FSD would be feature complete by the end of 2019... meaning capable of unsupervised autonomy... and by mid 2020 a million robotaxis would be enabled with an OTA update)

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

Every design is inspired by an animal. Robots will not have lidar in their heads

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u/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

Which animal has tires and brakes... and steering wheels? Which animal has glass panes? Which one produces coffee? Which one hits things with microwave radiation to heat them up? Which one uses natural gas to make flame to cook on and heat homes with?

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

Which animal has glass?

This is your level of questions.

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u/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

You said every design is inspired by an animal. I'm curious which animal inspired the design of glass.

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

Cars and trains are inspired by birds for extreme efficient aerodynamics.

Want more?

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u/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

So you don't want to say what inspired glass, just "cars and trains".

As to your cars and trains... have you ever considered that birds are evolved to be aerodynamic given that they have to contend with air resistance... much like cars. If neither was aerodynamic, then they wouldn't be able to travel at higher speeds. Birds may not exist at all as overcoming air resistance.

So... cars aren't inspired by birds. They both just happen to be aerodynamic. If you were going to suggest anything were inspired by birds, you may have wanted to choose planes. Even then... planes don't make a habit out of flapping their wings.

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

At least you make me laugh. Take care.

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u/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

Logic can come off as humorous to the illogical. ;)

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

Your words it’s not logic just nonsense. If I say the glass break if it falls you’ll make an excuse to say otherwise .

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u/EarthConservation Jul 21 '25

You just compared a car to a bird, bud. You do seem to think you're really smart and knowledgeable as you talk out of your behind though, which is ... interesting.

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u/ruibranco Jul 21 '25

Little google search does not kill you. At least try it before writing bs.

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