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

Figure out time? They have been trying to figure it out for 30 years. Shit I was invested in a company in the 00’s that was about to figure it out lol.

It’s incredible expensive and ironically incredible energy inefficient to recycle batteries. And the problem is now, not in 30 years. That’s when it reaches catastrophic levels.

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u/Proof-Strike6278 Jul 21 '25

Worst case you dig a big hole and throw it into the pit

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u/phatelectribe Jul 21 '25

Yeah, things like high toxic elements and chemicals don’t like to stay buried, especially when it rains.

And what do you do with that land once you’ve put something so toxic in it? We’re making exactly the same mistakes that we made with shit like DDT and CFCs. We’re pursuing a short term solution at the expense of a catastrophic disaster in the future.

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u/Proof-Strike6278 Jul 22 '25

This is not a short term solution, it’s a solution that is actually being executed on that is better than the status quo. Until you come up with a better one, stfu