[mensetmanusman]

In my experience, expensive doesn’t necessarily mean more reliable, it could just mean higher fidelity, higher resolution (and possibly less reliable due to the utilization of parts ‘less’ produced on the global supply chain), etc.

This improved resolution don’t necessarily help an AI grok the situation in real time with >20 Hz response time though.

[Closi]

I think the overall sentiment is more the "let's avoid premature optimisation" rather than "let's spend the most money".

If you have pre-sold a 'self driving' capability which you have guaranteed to be backwards compatible on cars you have already sold, then you are effectively cutting out Lidar as an option unless you are going to go back to all those cars and screw it on.

And considering that self-driving isn't solved yet, it seems like a bold move to define both your processing power and your sensing hardware in a way which makes it very difficult to (commercially) change.