[vjvjvjvjghv]

Usually you would go in with the max amount of sensors and data, make it work and then see what can be left out. It seems dumb to limit yourself from beginning if you don’t know yet what really works. But then I am not a multi billionaire so what do i know?

[fpoling]

Well we know that vision works based on human experience. So few years ago it was a reasonable bet that cameras alone could solve this. The problem with Tesla is that they still continue to insist on that after it became apparent that vision alone with the current tech and machine learning does not work. They even do not want to use a radar again even if the radar does not cost much and is very beneficial for safety.

[jsnell]

Human performance won't be sufficient. Self-driving vehicles have to be noticably (order of magnitude) better than humans to be accepted.

[bsder]

> Well we know that vision works based on human experience.

Actually, we know that vision alone doesn't work.

Sun glare. Fog. Whiteouts. Intense downpours. All of them cause humans to get into accidents, and electronic cameras aren't even as good as human eyes due to dynamic range limitations.

Dead reckoning with GPS and maps are a huge advantage that autonomous cars have over humans. No matter what the conditions are, autonomous cars know where the car is and where the road is. No sliding off the road because you missed a turn.

Being able to control and sense the electric motors at each wheel is a big advantage over "driving feel" from the steering wheel and your inbuilt sense of acceleration.

Radar/lidar is just all upside above and beyond what humans can do.

[vjvjvjvjghv]

Human vision is terrible in conditions like fog, rain, snow, darkness and many others. Other sensor types would do much better there. They should have known that a long time ago.

[guywithahat]

To be fair, lidar is arguably worse in rain and snow. I don't think we know of a sensor yet which works well in these conditions