Tesla Wins the Self-Driving Race: How VISION Crushed LiDAR
1. The Beginning: A Bold Vision When Elon Musk dismissed LiDAR as "a fool’s errand" back in 2019, many critics laughed it off. They said it was reckless and impossible. How could cars rely solely on vision? Fast forward to today, and Tesla has proven him right. This story isn’t just about technology; it’s about persistence, innovation, and, ultimately, domination. I’m here to share the journey of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology and how it turned the autonomous vehicle industry on its head. From the start, Tesla took a radically different approach. While competitors like Waymo and General Motors (GM) invested in expensive LiDAR systems and complex maps, Tesla focused on cameras, vision-based AI, and data collection. Critics said it couldn’t be done. Yet, here we are: Waymo is scaling back, GM is shifting strategy, and even Google’s CEO acknowledges that Tesla leads the race. 2. The Turning Point: Admitting Defeat For years, companies argued that LiDAR was essentia...