[jfim]

One of the gains from using lidar is also that it's a different sensor altogether from cameras, with different failure modes.

For example, cameras are sensitive to glare from reflections (sun near sunset or reflecting on metallic objects) and oncoming traffic at night. Lidars operate on a different narrower wavelength and are unlikely to be affected by that, although they might struggle with objects that have low reflectivity at a long distance.

The fact that these sensors are different means that the intersection where a dangerous situation would not be detected by either sensor is much smaller than any sensor individually.

In any case, once AVs are deployed at scale, if it becomes apparent that some sensors can be removed or replaced by something else, then they will be if there's a case for it.