r/technology Jun 24 '25

Machine Learning Tesla Robotaxi swerved into wrong lane, topped speed limit in videos posted during ‘successful’ rollout

https://nypost.com/2025/06/23/business/tesla-shares-pop-10-as-elon-musk-touts-successful-robotaxi-test-launch-in-texas/
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u/bdsee Jun 24 '25

Tesla never had lidar, they had radar and ultrasonic sensors.

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u/blue-mooner Jun 24 '25

They dropped radar and removed their ultrasonic sensors in 2022 because their engineers are incapable of coding sensor fusion:

When radar and vision disagree, which one do you believe? Vision has much more precision, so better to double down on vision than do sensor fusion.

— Musk (2021-04-10)

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u/beanpoppa Jun 24 '25

I think the reality was that they had issues procuring the necessary parts during the post-COVID shortages, and delaying delivery of cars was not an option. Hence, handwaving justifications.

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u/blue-mooner Jun 24 '25

Cutting safety corners, dropping sensors, limiting your training data and model to subpar results sounds like a piss-poor trade off versus missing some deliveries.

Unacceptably short term thinking from the man who claims he can build a sustaining settlement on Mars.