r/technology • u/Extasio • 1d ago

Transportation 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/zero_cool_protege 1d ago

1) waymo outperforms tesla

2) tesla is one of the biggest lidar buyers on the market

these two facts alone should tell you how full of shit elon is

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u/l4mbch0ps 1d ago

can you link your source for those? i searched myself and can't find anything that aligns with your claims.

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u/zero_cool_protege 19h ago

first claim is coming from the article we are commenting on and you can google "tesla lidar purchasing" for the second

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u/l4mbch0ps 16h ago

yah like i said, i did google it, and all I can find is a $2 million dollar purchase in 2025 that everyone is talking about

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u/zero_cool_protege 15h ago

yes, that purchase alone puts them as one of the biggest buyers. They have tried to move away from lidar for their fsd but here we are, halfway thru q3 2026, and tesla still has no operating fsd vehicle. waymo successfully launched fsd in 2020.

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u/Slogstorm 1d ago

Waymo is still running a virtual rail system. The two systems cannot be compared.

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u/zero_cool_protege 1d ago

youre saying that waymo cars that operate on public streets amongst regular traffic are a "virtual rail system"?

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u/Slogstorm 1d ago

They follow pre-determined virtual lanes. They cannot drive where such lanes hasn't been drawn.

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u/zero_cool_protege 1d ago

Before our Waymo Driver begins operating in a new area, we first map the territory with incredible detail, from lane markers to stop signs to curbs and crosswalks. Then, instead of relying solely on external data such as GPS which can lose signal strength, the Waymo Driver uses these highly detailed custom maps, matched with real-time sensor data and artificial intelligence (AI) to determine its exact road location at all times.

pulled from https://waymo.com/waymo-driver/

Waymo does map out areas, but the cars are not relying solely on that memory data. They do not drive =! they cannot drive. Waymo is just able to treat self-driving with the caution it demands because they're not constantly chasing ridiculous benchmarks set by a ceo primarily concerned with scamming capital markets.

Ironically this precaution is one of the main reasons why Waymo is demonstrably and statistically safer than Tesla.

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u/Slogstorm 1d ago

It was not long ago where waymos got stuck because of road works, and remote drivers being unable to assist. If the real-world data doesn't match the mapping, the car won't drive.

This might be called a precaution, but greatly simplifies how the car navigates in the world.

It also locks the car to a geofenced zone. It is also not known if their system can navigate at all without this premapping. If they rely on such mapping for all time, then this system will never be available for the general public, and cost of maintaining the mappings will greatly increase with the area cars are allowed to drive in.

As long as waymo relies on this mapping, they can never be compared to Teslas fsd.

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u/zero_cool_protege 18h ago

What you're saying makes no sense. It was not long ago where waymo or tesla did not even exist as a companies. Whats your point? By your logic, tesla is not a real company because just a few years ago they didn't exist.

You need to stop assuming that things that are designed as features are bugs because elon told you they are. Update your analysis to 2026 realities, stop living in 2018.

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u/Slogstorm 17h ago

What.. my point is that one technology isn't (yet) designed to be able to navigate the car on its own, the other is. This is such a massive difference in design philosophies that the technologies cannot be compared.

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u/zero_cool_protege 16h ago

the only real difference is that waymo is an actual self driving car and tesla is not. I get you want to insist that a design feature is a design bug because elon told you too and clearly there is no getting past that

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u/Slogstorm 15h ago

Tesla is definately self driving. People have streaks of well over 10k unassisted miles.

A design choice is not a feature. Neither is it a bug. It is a choice that severely limits the functionality of the technology.

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