It was easier for Tesla to offer free FSD because it was all software. The LiDAR units alone, which are part of DreamDrive, are a few thousand dollars each.
Tesla had the LiDAR unit included in all Tesla cars back in 2019.
Sure, but they were including it either way - the incremental (CapEx) cost to offering FSD was $0, as LiDAR was included on every car.
Wait a sec! I didn't know that. Where was the lidar unit mounted? Disclaimer: I have never owned or driven a Tesla.
I honestly have no idea. I’m heartened by the fact that they (and others) are working with NVidia for it, and I’m not keen to apply Tesla’s failed promises to Lucid. That said, I have absolutely no idea. I’m hoping though!
I took this at face value, but I’m actually not sure.
Wow! That is contrary to what I had read in the past regarding Telsa. Here is an example: https://towardsdatascience.com/why-...le company working,driving cars in the future. I have read a number of articles this year where telsa was using just cameras and not Lidar. But if you have one dating back to 2019 or so, I defer to you.
You brought up a good point! Tesla did have to add the LiDAR or other needed hardware in all cars (2021 and below) for free but they played it in very smart way. They are recording and training all the data from drivers for FSD development. Eventually, they will make a lot of money from those who want to subscribe in FSD.
This. My 2019 X Raven switched from using cameras+radar to cameras only when I enrolled in the FSD beta program. It’s pretty amazing given that it’s only vision based, although I’ve noticed that the distance measurement when pulling into my garage is less accurate now. I have some lawn equipment stored in front of where I park the Tesla. When it was cameras+radar it would very accurately state 12” from the equipment when I parked. With vision only, I’m about 18” from the equipment when it reads 12”.
Tesla cars do not have lidar and never have. Tesla did not upgrade cars for free. If you paid for full self driving, Tesla updated your car to compute hardware version 3. If you didn't buy full self driving, no upgrade.
Wrong! Tesla had LiDAR in all cars before 2021 models. They exclude the LiDAR after this date when they developed their software version to depend on camera only to save the cost. All 2020 Tesla models and beyond equipped with AP3 hardware compute with no cost whether you buy FSD or not.
They had radar, not LiDAR.
Radar and Lidar are two completely different things. Could you please point us to one article anywhere that says Tesla used Lidar? I’m genuinely curious.
There are a lot of Tesla owners on this forum. Probably don’t want to make such assertions before being 100% sure.
That’s correct. They never had LiDAR. Remember Elon’s famous statement about LiDAR being a “fool’s errand”?
Sorry, I thought they were the same. You are right and I will take it back, Tesla does have radar not a LiDAR.
