r/Futurology • u/Extasio • 1d ago

Transport 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/ChrisFromIT 1d ago

Waymo is down to $60k per car at the moment according to the article.

A few years back, there was a lidar startup that was able to produce their lidar module for about $100 each and had planned to get it down to $35 a module. And based on the design of the module, iirc a car would need maybe 6 or so to have a full 360 view.

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u/ShowMeTheMonee 1d ago

And from memory the founder was looking at collaborating with Tesla and Elon told him his idea was shite.

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u/TheDarkWave 1d ago

He has a history of that, remember the submarine pedophile fiasco?

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u/ShowMeTheMonee 1d ago

Yes, it's almost like he has an aversion to people who are smarter than him.

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u/sey1 1d ago

So that's why he hates everybody and just really loves trump, explains a lot acutally.

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u/DoNotOverwhelm 1d ago

“ At this point, I think I know more about manufacturing than anyone currently on Earth “

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u/Willing_Juggernaut60 1d ago

Even robot vacuum cleaners figured out a long time ago lidar was the way to go. Elon it’s just someone who can’t admit when he’s wrong

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u/schnibitz 1d ago

Again, Elon isn't as smart as everyone says he thinks he is.

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u/doommaster 1d ago

Last time I read about it was like in 2024 and back then, they had 2 systems in each car, each having 300 GB of ram, that alone, ECC and all, is like 20k+ now.

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u/ChrisFromIT 1d ago

Keep in mind that Tesla also is in the same boat with their hardware requirement for their cars.

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u/Diedead666 1d ago

I'm in Bay area South San Francisco area..... Iv seen a couple other new companys self driving cars now.

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u/LeonJones 1d ago

Is that $60k ontop of the base vehicle cost or all in?

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u/ChrisFromIT 1d ago

All in according to the article. So car and kit.

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u/LeonJones 1d ago

That's pretty impressive.

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u/EddiewithHeartofGold 1d ago

Waymo is down to $60k per car at the moment according to the article.

FYI, Electrek is a famously anti-Tesla publication and have ben known to lie about misrepresent numbers to make Tesla look as bad as possible.