Tesla Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) AI Lead Ashok Elluswamy argued that adding sensors such as LiDAR and radar cannot solve the core challenge of unsupervised autonomy, as CEO Elon Musk touted the arrival of a "golden era" of transportation following the Cybercab’s launch in Austin.
No Sensor Can Predict the Future
User Robotaxi Radar shared a clip of Elluswamy speaking at the Cybercab event on Thursday. Elluswamy, in the clip, said that experts told Tesla that it “cannot build a safe self-driving vehicle with just cameras,” touting sensors like LiDAR and Radar, as well as “HD maps” to achieve autonomy safely.
“We always thought the core issue for self-driving is one of intelligence,” he said. Elluswamy then said that to achieve autonomy, the system needed to predict what was going to happen and that “no sensor on the world is going to tell you what is going to happen in the future.”
He then said that it was something that “an intelligent agent is going to have to figure out,” touting an “AI-first, end-to-end” approach incorporated by Tesla, which “takes in camera images from all around the car,” and pays attention to driving the occupants safely.
Notably, investor Ross Gerber, despite his earlier criticism, had said that the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system had improved from its predecessors, but warned that there was work still left to be done.
Unlike its competitors like Alphabet Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo, which utilizes LiDAR, Tesla has prioritized a vision-only approach to solve autonomy.
Elon Musk Hails Rare-Earth-Free Design
Musk, following the Cybercab’s launch, hailed Tesla’s rare-earth-free motor used in the Cybercab, saying that it was an “extremely hard” milestone to achieve for the EV giant. Musk confirmed that despite having no rare earth elements, the motor had not sacrificed range.
Investor Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management said that the Cybercab’s launch marked the end of Musk worrying about incidents involving Robotaxis. The investor also said that he expects Tesla to deploy 300 units of the Cybercab in Austin in the first month.
Price Action: TSLA shares fell 2.02% to $368.77 during pre-market trading on Friday.
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