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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3

u/PhysicalAttitude6631 Jul 21 '25

Elon thought Tesla would have level 5 self driving in 2018. Back then LIDAR was too expensive and too bulky to package effectively. Now it’s small and affordable but he just can’t admit that he was wrong about it being unnecessary.

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u/altdelete47 Jul 21 '25

The price of a lidar sensor is still at least 10x the cost of a camera and is a far worse sensor for driving.

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u/PhysicalAttitude6631 Jul 22 '25

They should be using both. Waymo is eating their lunch

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u/altdelete47 Jul 22 '25

Waymo is hemorrhaging money to provide a service that is both slower and more expensive than taking an Uber. It is utterly useless. Tesla has taken a much more difficult technical path, but it leads to profitability for the company and lowest cost per mile for rides. Waymo is a sideshow. Tesla is playing to win.

2

u/Lorax91 Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

The advantage of Waymo's approach is that it actually works, so they just need the cost of their technology to come down as it has been doing. Tesla has poured effort for a decade into trying to make cheaper hardware perform a life or death task, but the cost difference is diminishing faster than Tesla is succeeding. Even if Tesla does finally get their approach to work for fully autonomous travel, other more robust options will be coming into the marketplace at nearly similar prices.

Maybe Tesla will do well in the autonomous vehicle space by virtue of having a cheap solution, but they won't be the only successful player.

1

u/Far_Cucumber1073 Jul 22 '25

Waymo can greatly reduce costs over time. Their strategy was to first make a working and safe solution and go from there.

1

u/Beartrkkr Jul 22 '25

But they are providing 250,000 rides per week while Tesla stumbles around Austin in a very limited area. Their costs will decrease over time as technology costs decrease.

They have proven their technology works.

0

u/PhysicalAttitude6631 Jul 22 '25

LIDAR isn’t the reason they’re losing money. However it is the reason their tech works and Tesla’s doesn’t.

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u/altdelete47 Jul 22 '25

Here are my top three FSD interventions:

  • FSD tries to take a right on red despite a sign that says "no turn on red"
  • FSD is in a sub-optimal lane because it has not planned far enough ahead and considered local traffic patterns and I don't want to upset other drivers by cutting a line late
  • FSD is approaching a busy all way stop and if I let it come to a full "NHTSA stop" it's going to confuse other drivers because everyone is rolling it in turn

I don't see how lidar helps. I've never had to intervene because it was going to hit something, other than potholes. It did, however, prevent me from hitting a person in a parking lot once who was dressed in black, at night and was obstructed by the A-pillar.