Yeah, I would never argue that an optical system won't ever work, I believe it will work someday. While the best optical/radar have shown alright capabilities in a demonstration capacity in straightforward driving situations, they're nowhere near having the kind of redundancy needed to safely remove a human from the driving task altogether.
With Waymo's robotaxis, who are the closest to a pilot commercial deployment, they spare no expense, they're riddled with sensors, they have giant computers in the trunk, there's an air-gapped backup computer that can take the vehicle to a minimal risk condition should the primary fail. They are maintenance intensive and require careful maintenance and oversight; Waymo (and GM) are building call centres filled with remote human monitors who can intervene when the vehicles get hung up, and they're geo-fenced. They are far away from being cheap enough or idiot-proof enough to put in the hands of private owners.
Assuming Tesla sticks to it's guns, I'm thinking maybe in 2025 we can revisit that and see how far Tesla has come towards full autonomy.
During the Waymo vs. Uber trial Judge Alsup asked Waymo CEO John Krafcik if Tesla uses Lidar.
With Waymo's robotaxis, who are the closest to a pilot commercial deployment, they spare no expense, they're riddled with sensors, they have giant computers in the trunk, there's an air-gapped backup computer that can take the vehicle to a minimal risk condition should the primary fail. They are maintenance intensive and require careful maintenance and oversight; Waymo (and GM) are building call centres filled with remote human monitors who can intervene when the vehicles get hung up, and they're geo-fenced. They are far away from being cheap enough or idiot-proof enough to put in the hands of private owners.
Assuming Tesla sticks to it's guns, I'm thinking maybe in 2025 we can revisit that and see how far Tesla has come towards full autonomy.
During the Waymo vs. Uber trial Judge Alsup asked Waymo CEO John Krafcik if Tesla uses Lidar.
"Not yet" he replied.