Elon Musk calls Lidar technology a scam, but now Tesla is testing it in his car

Despite being one of the leaders in self-driving car technology, Tesla has always shied away from a common technology in the field: the Lidar sensor system. Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly called this technology a ” trick of fools ” and said that any self-driving car company that relies on it will fail.

But recently, an image taken in Florida shows a Tesla Model Y with a roof fitted with Luminar’s Lidar sensors. More notably, according to a new report by Bloomberg, Tesla is said to have partnered with Luminar to use its Lidar sensor technology for “trial and development”. There are no details on the partnership, but many speculate that the sensors will be used for Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” driver assistance feature.

The tweet with images shows a Tesla Model Y with Lidar sensors on the roof

However, just because a single vehicle has been found to be equipped with this sensor technology does not mean that Tesla has changed its stance on Lidar. As Sam Abuelsamid told Bloomberg, it’s likely that Tesla uses Luminar’s Lidar sensor to verify their Full Self-Driving feature. But this is also a notable step forward for Tesla after Mr. Musk’s criticisms of this sensor technology.

In Tesla’s 2018 earnings report, Musk once said: ” In my view, it’s like a crutch to bring companies to a point where they will find themselves very difficult to get out of. Maybe I’m wrong, and I look like a fool. But I’m pretty sure I’m not .”

According to Musk, Tesla has a bigger problem to deal with: passive optical recognition. That’s why Tesla sees cameras as a key piece of hardware for self-driving cars. With camera resolutions increasing and prices getting lower, imaging sensors are seen as indispensable for advanced driver assistance systems – like the Autopilot feature of Tesla cars. – as well as fully autonomous systems. For Tesla, the camera comes first.

However, Mr. Musk has also recently revisited those remarks. In a chat on the Clubhouse app, Mr Musk admitted to having “failed” about the Lidar but emphasized that SpaceX also developed its own Laser sensors – similar to Lidar – to support the lander. Capsule.

During Tesla’s recent earnings call, Musk also talked about avoiding radar in self-driving cars, stating: ” We believe that a vision system is all that matters. necessary for full self-driving capabilities .”

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