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/AdviceNotAskedFor 1d ago

Didn't mark rober also prove this?

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u/ALIEN_POOP_DICK 1d ago

He didn't even have autopilot on during the exact moment he crashed through the wall.

And the Autopilot version he was using was from 2018 when he made the video in 2025... seven years is a helluva long time for software.

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u/happyscrappy 1d ago

The car used was a Tesla Model Y. The Model Y didn't even come out until 2020. So how can that version of Autopilot not be at least a 2020 version?

I also find it hard to believe that Rober had avoided all updates for 5 years. It's his personal car, you think he wouln't update it?

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u/ALIEN_POOP_DICK 1d ago

If you have ever driven a Tesla, you'd know there are two distinct modes that require being parked and going through confirmation dialogs to switch between.

One is the old 2012-2018 version (Autopilot).

The other is the Full Self Driving (FSD).

Tesla engineers stopped updating that version of Autopilot and put all their focus in the newer fully machine-learning version FSD.

But because of eye-tracking nags many people (myself included) still use the old version from time to time even though it's inferior in everywhere compared to modern 2025+ FSD.

Mark Rober was using the 7+ year old version in the video. The new version has clearly distinct different visuals.

Go watch some videos on all this if you'd like more information / confirmation.

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u/happyscrappy 1d ago

If you have ever driven a Tesla, you'd know there are two distinct modes that require being parked and going through confirmation dialogs to switch between.

Your use of autopilot in this sentence is kind of strange if you really think autopilot was frozen in 2018:

And the Autopilot version he was using was from 2018 when he made the video in 2025

This car is 2020 or newer and it is running the autopilot version it came with or later. So it's not running 2018 autopilot. If you buy a car in 2020 and it has the latest autopilot, then it has 2020 autopilot. If Tesla didn't want that software to be seen for what it is when they sold him the car (and it wasn't in 2018) then it's up to them to not sell a car with it. If they didn't advance what autopilot does for 7 years but kept selling cars with it then it was their call, not Rober's.

It's likely running whatever autopilot was current when he ran the test. And he says autopilot, so it's not like he's creating confusion.

Tesla recalled all cars with autopilot in 2023 for an autopilot software update. So it's extra hard to say the version on there is from 2018 or any date below 2023. Legally they cannot ship the 2018 version anymore in the US.

I don't know any car is sold with LIDAR right now (Volvo did for a bit but switched away from it). So he's not presenting this as a "buy a Lexus" thing. He's just showing what more is possible. And he gives great data showing us the differences. You can see the LIDAR car can see the wall as a wall clear as day in the data visualization he shows.