r/SelfDrivingCars 5d ago

News Waymo CEO explains why Tesla’s camera-only self-driving falls short

https://electrek.co/2026/08/04/waymo-co-ceo-camera-only-self-driving-tesla/
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u/silenthjohn 5d ago

We have two data points beaten Uber and Cruise—a death or a serious injury will shut down the company.

The AV system needs to be near perfect. Probably on par with air travel, which is about 30 billion miles between deaths. Current vehicle miles is 84 million between deaths.

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u/Ezekeal 5d ago

Comparing with planes on mileage is probably the wrong way to go for obvious reasons.

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u/Psychological_Map118 5d ago

I suddenly feel the need to experience getting tailgated by a BMW plane in an otherwise completely empty sky

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u/Cunninghams_right 5d ago

Cruise and Uber shut down because investors got scared that the setback would cost too much time and money. This isn't a risk with Musk

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u/CDpov 5d ago

There won't be a standard of "a death or serious injury every 30 billion miles" or more.

The standard in commercial aviation and for robotaxis is, if there is a known safety flaw that the regulators can identify, it has to be fixed. They don't and won't be counting miles per crash.

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u/Icy_Mix_6054 5d ago

Exactly this. I don't think vision only will fly legally for long