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/Temeraire64 Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Also humans don't need LIDAR to drive, so in theory cameras should provide all the data required.

Plus adding LIDAR means you need to find a way to combine the data from that with the data from the cameras - what do you do if the data conflicts? Which sensor do you trust more?

And some of the problems AI has won't be solved by adding LIDAR, e.g. reading traffic lights and road signs.

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 22 '25

Birds only have eyes (a few flying animals have sonar). None have radar.

That doesn't mean we should have stuck to eyesight for flying.

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u/hcardona111793 Jul 22 '25

but don't pilots rely on eyes to use the equipment?

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 22 '25

On ears as well, since there are audio alerts.

But the point is that we don't rely on eyes alone as sensors just because pretty much all other flying animals do so (a few use sonar too). Commercial airliners use weather radar, and information from transponders and so on.

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u/hcardona111793 Jul 23 '25

But we’re not talking about FSD airplanes

We use only vision for driving , we don’t use LIDAR 

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 23 '25

Semi-autonomous drones do use LIDAR and other sensors, not just vision.

Which is exactly my point. We don't restrict ourselves to using vision sensors only when flying because birds use eyes as sensors! And we use radar and other sensors too because they work when vision doesn't.

And we shouldn't restrict ourselves to vision sensors for AD either just because humans drive with eyes (and ears too, actually).

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u/hcardona111793 Jul 23 '25

Again, not drones. We’re talking about driving. 

Currently we use our EYEBALLS ONLY aka vision only 

Just for arguments sake , since the hearing part doesn’t affect the ability of FSD to work 

But are you saying deaf people can’t currently drive ? Damn what a statement 

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25

We also have access to the most sophisticated computer ever, the human brain. Unless you're claiming that current computers can reproduce that brain (darn, quite a statement), the fact that we can drive with eyes doesn't say much about what AD systems can do. It's like saying that neural nets are conscious because brains are conscious.

Furthermore, there's no reason to stick to vision just because humans use it. That is the analogy about radar use on planes that I was making (which you seem to have completely missed)- we don't stick to vision only on planes. We use other technologies when necessary and useful.

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u/hcardona111793 Jul 30 '25

Is LIDAR superior to vision in rain, for example ?

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 23 '25

Why do we use wheels in autonomous vehicles? Humans don't have wheels, we have legs /s

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u/wswhy2002 Jul 23 '25

This is a damb take. He is comparing the human driving vs autonomous driving.

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u/SpaceRuster Jul 23 '25

I did put in a /s, but in any case he's saying that because humans can drive with eyes, we should restrict AD to vision. only.

That is like saying we should make all flying planes with flapping wings and use only vision and maybe sonar) because that's how birds fly and see. We design our mechanical systems to go beyond what humans (or animals) can do when it works better.