Recently the Mobileye CEO, Amnon Shashua, described Tesla’s method of developing self-driving vehicles as a brute force method of gradual beta test improvements that might run into a glass ceiling. Shashua believes Tesla essentially records the wrong part of of the self-driving process.
Of course, Musk is known for believing the use of lidar sensors for self-driving is an unnecessary crutch. Mobileye uses a combination of lidar sensors combined with high-definition maps. The usage of lidar versus Musk’s insistence that lidar is unnecessary is a constant point of discussion in autonomous driving circles. In 2019, one of the early developers of self-driving technology, Chris Urmson (co-founder of Aurora) stated during a Lex Friedman podcast that lidar is in fact a crutch. However for Urmson, the better questions is what’s the cheapest sensor suite that creates a safe vehicle on the road as quickly as possible? If the expensive lidar sensor is required today to make the system work, then it’s the expensive lidar sensor that drives the economic opportunity for a self-driving vehicles. With the correct business model, the cost of the lidar sensor can be absorbed.
When Musk was asked recently by a Wall Street analyst, “if lidar were free, would you utilize lidar for Autopilot? Musk’s reply was, no!”