[reitzensteinm]

Waymo quotes $7500 per car for the LIDAR unit, which is financially feasible today for consumer vehicles, even if it only supplied level 3. It's trivial for a level 4 robotaxi. But only once the software works.

Even discounting aesthetics, Tesla couldn't have bolted it on to every car sold in the hope that it'll work in a few years time. They'd be bankrupt by now. They were forced to use cameras if they wanted any intermediate progress.

I get that there's a lot of misinformation about Tesla and you're trying to correct it. Even as a Tesla bear I acknowledge that.

But don't do it by creating further misinformation about competitors. You're just adding to the noise.

[leesec]

That's just one LIDAR, count how many are on their vans. (I think 5)

[reitzensteinm]

It's for the main one. The others are much cheaper. The total price is not 5x$7500.

These are not levels where it makes sense to question if it will "ever" be financially viable. It's less than the premium people paid gladly for a Model S.

A true level 3 on consumer cars would sell like hotcakes.