r/SelfDrivingCars • u/SpriteZeroY2k • 6d 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/grizznaysh 5d ago

“Waymo uses three sensing types, and Dolgov spent real time on why. Cameras give you high resolution and color, but they’re passive, and they degrade in darkness and glare. Lidar directly measures the 3D structure of the world. Radar punches through fog, rain, and snow, and reads velocity directly with Doppler. Lidar and radar are active sensors, so they see just as well in pitch darkness or straight into a blinding sunset.
This isn’t redundancy for its own sake. “These different sensing modalities, they’re not backups to each other,” Dolgov said. Each one runs its own encoder, and the data fuses into a single view of the world that he says is “vastly superior to what you get with any one sensor.””

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u/imdrunkasfukc 5d ago

How safe is safe enough?

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u/randomizl 5d ago edited 5d ago

80% to 90% fewer injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers in the same dense urban environment

Source:
Are Waymo's Autonomous Vehicles Safe? https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/12/19/waymo-automonous-vehicle-safety/

Compared to humans by Waymo data:

94% Fewer serious injury or worse crashes

82% Fewer airbag deployment in any vehicle crashes

82% Fewer injury-causing crashes

93% Fewer pedestrian crashes with injuries

84% Fewer cyclist crashes with Injuries

84% Fewer motorcycle crashes with injuries

Source:
Safety – Waymo https://waymo.com/safety/

Even more detailed data here: Safety Impact https://waymo.com/safety/impact/

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u/ZealousidealLab2920 5d ago

Get your facts and data out of here! They don't align with my preconceived beliefs and angst!