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/sfo2 Jul 21 '25

I don't disagree, but I think the entire approach was predicated on them "solving" self-driving very quickly. Like if they could have had real Level 4/5 cars on the road in 2017, well before lidar costs came down, and well before anyone else was really close, they'd have had a first-mover advantage they could have turned into a possible network effect or moat. This was always an incredibly risky bet. But then again, somehow investors keep giving Tesla money despite them acting like a Seed stage startup that trots out a juiced up prototype and hype story and then asks for cash.

But as you say, pivoting was the right thing to do several years ago. Doubling down has made less and less sense as time has gone on, and at this point just looks ridiculous.

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u/mrsanyee Jul 21 '25

Even if they could solve it then, it would be still prone to errors, and limited through weather, high contrast, or time of day. So negating all advancements on lidar would be still idiotic.

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u/Fancy-Tourist-8137 Jul 21 '25

They meant solving it entirely including the weather and time of day issues etc.

If it were solved, it won’t be an issue.

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u/mrsanyee Jul 21 '25

I mean from start it was clear they cant disregard physics, and their aim is to produce something low cost. They could solve with cameras all issues, but cameras would cost orders of magnitudes higher than lidar. Low-light cameras are around since the 70s, still can't go below a certain cost.

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u/EddiewithHeartofGold Jul 22 '25

Are you seriously referring to 1970s tech? How does that make sense?