According to foreign media reports, Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said that he would give up using lidar, and most automakers and technology companies believe that lidar is an indispensable sensor for self-driving cars.
“my prediction is that they will all abandon lidar,” Musk has said before.
“Mark my words.
” However, Tesla now seems to be using lidar sensors again.
On May 7th, lidar supplier Luminar Technologies said that according to the disclosed quarterly financial results, “Tesla is our largest lidar customer” in the first quarter.
Sales to Tesla account for more than 10 per cent of the company’s quarterly revenues, Luminar said.
Luminar’s financial documents did not elaborate on how Tesla used lidar sensors.
Mr Musk is expected to launch a self-driving taxi on Aug.
8, which may be why Tesla has become Luminar’s biggest customer.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Luminar declined to comment further.
Photo: Tesla, prior to this, the Autopilot and FSD driving assistance systems launched by Tesla did not use lidar sensors.
Lidar sensors use lasers to map the precise position of the vehicle and detect obstacles.
Tesla relies on cameras and sometimes radar to accomplish these tasks.
Each sensor has its advantages and disadvantages, and most automakers use these sensors in a combination of driving assistance and fully self-driving.
Lidar has always been the most expensive sensor in cars, which is one of the reasons why Musk avoided using lidar.
“it’s stupid to use lidar in a car,” he said in December 2020.
“it’s expensive and unnecessary.
You use expensive hardware, but it’s worthless in a car.
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