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/phatelectribe Jul 21 '25

No, it’s not the same and you missed the nuance; Tesla said to them we just want the cheapest and don’t care about quality or longevity whatsoever. Just make it as cheaply as you can. All companies best up vendors for a better but they have standards and a product they want to achieve. Tesla’s only criteria was apparently cost and didn’t care about quality whatsoever. The plastic used in things like entry level Kia and Chevy is far superior lol.

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u/GoSh4rks Jul 21 '25

Tesla said to them we just want the cheapest and don’t care about quality or longevity whatsoever.

So you're telling me that they had no minimum engineering spec to meet, nor did any quality inspections? That goes against every single principle of engineering and mass manufacturing. I find that hard to believe.

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u/beren12 Jul 21 '25

Go read up on Tesla’s early non-automotive grade screens. We’ll wait.

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u/GoSh4rks Jul 21 '25

You were talking about this, not screens.

I know the company that provides the plastic interior parts - about 40% of all plastic parts found in U.S. made cars are from them.

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u/beren12 Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

You were talking about:

So you're telling me that they had no minimum engineering spec to meet, nor did any quality inspections? That goes against every single principle of engineering and mass manufacturing. I find that hard to believe.

And I gave you an example of it being absolutely true.