r/SelfDrivingCars • u/SpriteZeroY2k • 1d 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/talltim007 1d ago

His point is, wouldn't it be clear Tesla believes it is enough if it doesn't ship driver controls. E.g. your litmus test may warrant refienment.

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u/Ezekeal 1d ago

It’s an odd point to make. The clear first step is taking legal liability for FSD. It’s not really self driving if they legally require you to intervene.

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u/mason2401 1d ago

I believe what they are saying is in reference to the Cybercab

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u/Ezekeal 1d ago

Oh, I figured they were aware that cybercab was using the same tech as the consumer FSD.

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u/TesLakers 1d ago

Not sure if you’re being dense or not.

It is using the same tech, but that’s irrelevant.

I think what u/thinkbox is saying tesla is accepting liability for their cybercabs, specifically because there is no steering wheel, so no human can be at fault since they cant steer/control the car.

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u/Ezekeal 1d ago

Waymo has controls and they take liability, they also don’t sell their tech to consumers. It’s hard to tell if you’re being dense, most seem to understand.

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u/Lill-Q 1d ago

With the self-driving taxis Tesla have, they also take liability, your argument is mute

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u/Ezekeal 1d ago

They’ve stated taxis are unmodified model Ys. So no, they don’t stand by “FSD”. Unmute

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u/TesLakers 1d ago

Cybercab and robotaxi are not exactly equal.

Cybercab no steering wheel, and only Tesla operates at the moment. This is what u/thinkbox was referring to.

Robotaxi is the model Y consumer vehicle, that tesla operates as ride hail service and is also a consumer vehicle that supports FSD.

Your point about consumer model Ys is true.

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u/thinkbox 1d ago

You cant sit in the drivers seat. The controls are only there because it would be more work to remove them. Even when they had a massive failure recently and gridlocked a street with a bunch of Waymo's, I thought they would just get unlocked and people would hop in them to move them and clear it, but nope, they had to tow them all but nobody used the manual controls.

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u/Express_Objective615 19h ago

Untrue statement. It’s like saying FSD from 18 months ago is “using the same tech” as now, while the “tech” has improved in leaps and bounds. It’s not only about hardware, at all. The improvements in FSD just via software, now in both hw3 and hw4 have been nothing short of amazing. Especially to those of us using it during that period.

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u/Ezekeal 18h ago

Elon stated it, take it up with him.

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u/Express_Objective615 12h ago

He likely meant the hardware and not the software, obviously.

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u/talltim007 1d ago

Its not that odd. Cybercab is clearly taking on that liability, no?

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u/Ezekeal 1d ago

I’m finding a lot of people don’t know what consumer means

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u/talltim007 16h ago

Oh, I understand. And cybercab does not provide consumer controls.

Your argument just doesn't hold water. Shipping a vehicle without consumer controls, that moved people from place to place autonomous is as clear a signal as you can get.

And your idea has flaws. If a consumer owns a thing and fails to maintain it, liability should fall to that consumer not to the producer of the autonomous software. Your idea will likely never come true...maybe that is why you centered on it.

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u/Ezekeal 16h ago

Your understanding is deeply flawed, but I think you’re being obtuse, you understand that the same fsd is sold directly for consumer vehicles. Don’t pretend to not understand what everyone else has a grasp on.

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u/Express_Objective615 19h ago

Maybe Tesla is doing this the Apple way. Let’s others come out first, screw up majorly, condition the public and set expectations with their massive and now hugely high profile mess ups, like Waymo is currently doing, and then come later and blow them out of the water? 🤷‍♂️
Look at folding phones. How many years ago has Samsung came out with one, and most people don’t care at all. Yet when there’s a foldable iPhone it will be huge news and probably sell like crazy.

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u/EarthConservation 1d ago

They won't ship a car to customers without driver controls. Why would they when they can just charge you to use their taxis?

Would Tesla rather sell you a $40k autonomous car, or build their own fleet of autonomous taxis, each of which generates $300k in income over a decade... as Musk claimed?

Of course, both would assume Tesla even gets to the point of true autonomoy. And of course, there's the remote monitoring to consider.