Both the Tesla Cybertruck and the Tesla Semi; class 8 Semi truck have been spotted with LiDAR. Now the global media are saying hang on minute, Tesla changed their minds and they admitted that they were wrong all along, that LiDAR is the future. Well actually I’m going to set the record straight here
Now Tesla have attached LiDAR to the semi and to the Cybertruck. They’ve done it. It’s true. This is a true story. Does that mean that they are now seeing LiDAR is part of the future? ‘We need LiDAR for autonomy. We need LiDAR for vision.’ Are Tesla changing their minds?
Media are saying they are. Media are saying look we told you we told you Tesla is wrong. That’s what they’re doing. So I think it’s important we actually assess that and make judgment on whether or not the media are right or then once again just trying to clickbait.
Now when I said the media, I mean even InsideEVs is getting on in this. Julian Dnistran who probably knows better said, “Tesla is hard of work developing the final versions of its upcoming Cybertruck pickup as well as a refined version of the class 8 Semi truck with sightings of two prototypes what appears to be a LiDAR set up mounted on the hood of the development vehicle?
So I think it’s worth stopping him for a minute here and pointing out that we’ve seen LiDAR on other Tesla EVs in the past. We’re thinking about that. The semi prototype was spotted by Twitter user The Kilowatts who posted a series of photos showing a XenomatiX unit fitted under the windshield to which the user with an older photo of prototype Cybertruck wearing the same set up of digital eyes was seen as well.
Now InsideEVs of he says Tesla and Elon Musk have previously said on several occasions that, LiDAR which stands for Light detection and ranging is a fool’s errand, unnecessary and like having a whole bunch of expensive appendices. So with this being said what’s Tesla doing with two LiDAR equipped prototypes on the road?
Electrek said that this isn’t the first time that Tesla EVs have been spotted with LiDAR. That’s because the company is testing its own vision based driver assistant system against other sensors. That’s what Electrek claims. Lot of their claims to me in my opinion lately have been quite clickbaity! Trying to say things to get you excited or get you worked up.
This is what they said, “The claim that Tesla may be planning to use LiDAR as part of it’s self driving hardware suite is fundamentally untrue. We regularly test our own technologies against other sensors to calibrate our camera sonar and radar system coming to Tesla.
LiDAR is a method for determining range by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. With the Cybertrucks production start inching closer it makes sense to test its hardware for based Autopilot full self-driving suite to make it ready for real world conditions when the pickup goes into customer hands this summer. The point here is Tesla has on numerous occasions in the past said it uses these LiDAR systems in order to develop its own vehicles essentially. No, Tesla does not think LiDAR is needed or even useful for autonomous driving. That’s what they say and they’re sticking with it.
As for the semi Tesla are doing the same thing as with the Cybertruck. However, Tesla haven’t said anything about whether or not the semi would have autonomous driving or whether up to with that. They did say years ago the plan was for the semi. The class 8 semi to actually have full self-driving that was the plan for their future They didn’t say when that would happen for the semi. But they did say that that was part of their goals and recently people have noted and seen autopilot cameras on semis, meaning the truck is in fact equipped with the hardware to run say autopilot.
Maybe even for self-driving and now Tesla has started testing cameras and a sensor suite on the semi, which could make the semi a good choice for long haul deliveries, of course because Tesla wouldn’t be making it able to be able to drive without any touching of the wheel unless it has full approval. I’m thinking about looking at a couple of years yet before we see fully autonomous driving in a semi. Maybe four or five years until we get to that point where we know they’re 100% safeer than truck drivers.
Yes, truck drivers do fall to sleep. It’s true. I have seen in fact in the last few years some pretty major accidents caused by truck drivers falling asleep. Some of them here in Australia have been taking drugs and then crashed into a whole bunch of people and killed them.
So how much safer would a semi be if it had full self-driving? Well, think about it this way, right? When you go in an airplane? Who do you think drives the airplane? Do you think the pilot is actually flying the airplane? What do you think the computer does? Well, I can tell you now. The computer does. The pilot is only there as a backup in case the computer fails. That’s the case in basically all aircraft.
It won’t be long before that’s the same with the semi. In fact, I think it won’t be long before we see that being the same with cars. When I say it won’t be long, maybe 10 years away. It’s going to happen. It’s inevitable.
Does Tesla think that LiDAR is part of their future. No, they do not. I don’t believe they’re going to change their mind on that at any time in the future.
Media, how about we stop reporting on this bogus nonsense that Tesla has changed their mind on LiDAR because look… shows you the pictures. We know that that’s not the case. We know that they’re not doing that in this situation here.
But does that mean that other automakers are wrong? Other automakers? I mean, what about Waymo? What about General Motors? Does that mean they’re wrong about using LiDAR? Well, maybe or maybe not.
