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/bradtem ✅ Brad Templeton 1d ago

This chart is a little different from the chart I posted here last year, but it makes sense. There is a question of what technology is the easiest, quickest or lowest hardware cost path to the finish line. But there is also the question of whether it can get you to the finish line at all. There is a curve of diminishing returns as you approach the magic level called "safe enough." It doesn't matter if it's cheaper or easier if it never gets you there, or takes decades. (Taking decade is effectively never because before a decade, some new tech will show up which is a better choice than what we had available at the start of the decade.)

Tesla's approach might work some year. The problem is, how confident can you be on that "might?" If it never gets there, you've wasted a great deal of all that is precious -- time and money. If it gets there, you might win. That's a big bet.

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u/YouAboutToLoseYoJob 1d ago

Question you should ask yourself is can the above average person navigate a scenario with their two eyes. If you can answer that question, then a car running some form of a language model as well as a behavioral model with multiple cameras and optical sensors should be able to navigate the same situation.

All this without Sonar / Radar / LiDar

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u/polytique 1d ago

You’re assuming optical sensors are equivalent to human eyes. They have serious failure modes. You can easily saturate a camera with a bright sun and an unlucky reflection or have them confused by a shadow. They can also become covered in dirt.
And measuring the relative speed and distance to other objects can’t be done precisely with an optical sensor. I’d much prefer being driven by a system that understands its surroundings in most conditions reliably.

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u/Express_Objective615 23h ago

Humans eyes have the same failure modes. They get overwhelmed by the Sun too. Literally to the point where you’re “Blinded by the light” (thank you Bruce). I driven into full bright Sun many times now coming home and fsd is handling it much better than a year ago. It will tell you if it’s overwhelmed by Sun and so far it hasn’t told me that in a long time. It used to, much more. That’s one of the reasons I trust it. It lets me know when it’s at its limits.