Why Elon dropped lidar for FSD.
The reason why Tesla FSD performs better with just computer vision than systems that have LIDAR and radar is a bit counter intuitive. Allow me to try to explain.
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) March 2, 2025
In the early days of self-driving, people thought if you built a really accurate model of what’s happening around the… pic.twitter.com/EY8nNa55fj
How well does the system work at night or in reduced visibility? Is the system smart enough to slow down or disengage when visibility is below a safety threshold?
To add: The screen shows what it’s seeing vehicle and obstacle wise. It can also see traffic controls.
Seems to work fine.
How well will LIDAR and/or radar work when every vehicle is transmitting from multiple sensors per vehicle & all the reflection/refraction going on? Does each unit transmit on different frequencies and/or have different coded pulses so they can recognize their reflected pulses within the sea of pulses?
That would seem to be a valid concern.
I get where Elon is coming from. If humans can drive with just vision, the computer should be able to also but with better judgement.
For humans there is also a difference between seeing and perception.