Elon Musk long time a fan of, well, lies, and now it seems very likely that he has been caught up in a little lie again. The Tesla CEO was a Critics of lidar sensors for self-driving vehicles For some time. He even went so far as to say that other automakers were “doing away with lidar.” […] Mark my words.” Well, folks, as it turns out, Tesla can actually be Using lidar seniors.
While lidar supplier Luminar TechnologiesIts first-quarter financial report dated May 7 said that “Tesla was our largest lidar customer in the first quarter of 2024.” Automotive News. Lol lmao. Over 10 percent light up The company reported that the quarterly sales were due to sales to Tesla.
That all equates to a value of about $2.1 million Lidarbased on Luminar’s $21 million in first quarter revenue, The edge Reports. The Austin, Texas-based automaker bought so much lidar seem that it helped offset a decline in sales compared to the previous quarter. Just as an added little bonus, similar TeslaLuminar is also going through one of its own Rounds of layoffs.
Find out more about it here Lidar purchase and Musk’s thoughts about the technology, By The edge:
It’s a remarkable turnaround for Tesla, which over the years has famously reduced the number of sensors it uses for its advanced driver-assistance features like Autopilot and full self-driving – features that Musk has constantly sold as a precursor to a fully autonomous vehicle fleet. Later this year, Tesla is expected to unveil a robotaxi prototype, on which Musk is betting the future of his company.
Musk’s lidar allergy was even evident during Tesla’s own quarterly earnings call, in which he boasted that its vehicles relied solely on camera-based vision systems to power their driver assistance features.
“It is clear that our solution can enable self-driving with a relatively inexpensive inference computer and standard cameras,” Musk said. “No lidars, no radars, ultrasound. Nothing.”
To be fair Teslawe don’t really know what that $2.1 million is Lidar will be for. We’d reach out to Tesla for comment, but their answering machine is probably full.
Here are The edgeI’m wondering on this topic since the author of this story knows a lot more about lidar than I do:
Even though Tesla is using Luminar’s lidar to validate its Full Self-Driving feature in preparation for launching a robotaxi, this is still the case a lot of lidar. According to Luminar, individual lidar sensors, including software, cost around $1,000. Did Tesla buy 2,100 Lidars for its vehicles? Perhaps! The company is quietly operating an autonomous test fleet in a number of cities, including San Francisco and Las Vegas. Will these company-owned vehicles be retrofitted with Luminar’s lidar? If so, people will notice – just like they noticed that one Model Y in Florida a few years ago. We will know soon enough whether these vehicles will hit the road.
It seems clear that Tesla is changing its mind on lidar, even if Musk is still publicly against lidar. At some point, the CEO himself may be forced to swallow his pride and admit that lasers are indeed the solution.
Historical, Lidar was the most expensive sensor for vehicles, and that was one of the main reasons why Musk wasn’t a fan of it AutoNews. In 2020, musk said: “With cars it’s bloody stupid. It’s expensive and unnecessary. They have expensive hardware that is worthless on the car.”
Masterful move, sir.