Tesla's opponent: Musk boasts too much about FSD autopilot, it can't be realized without lidar.
Beijing, November 2 (Xinhua) Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Elon Musk) has been promising for many years that self-driving cars are coming soon. But his rival, the world's youngest self-made billionaire Austin Russell (Austin Russell), believes that Musk overboasts his fully autopilot system (FSD) and that he cannot achieve true autopilot without lidar.
Photo 1: Musk and Russell in 2012, Russell founded Tesla's self-driving competitor Luminar Technologies at the age of 17. In 2020, the company went public on Nasdaq, making Russell a billionaire almost overnight. Luminar uses lidar (LiDAR) to help navigate cars and has signed contracts with several major automakers, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.
However, Musk has publicly opposed lidar technology. He said in 2019 that the Luminar technology currently used by most other self-driving car companies was "doomed to failure". Instead of using lidar, Tesla relies on an external camera and other sensors to drive on autopilot. In October, there were media reports that Musk had repeatedly instructed his Autopilot team to abandon radar and use only cameras because it was closest to a simulated human eye.
Photo 2: Tesla FSD beta Russell said in an interview that he didn't think Tesla could fully realize autopilot technology before adopting lidar technology. "from the perspective of autopilot, if you want to achieve real autopilot, you have to use lidar." He said.
He also attacked Tesla's FSD system, which has come under fire from regulators in recent months because its name may be misleading. In fact, the beta FSD is like an add-on that can help you switch lanes and stop at a red light, but you still need a licensed driver to drive.
Even as a driving aid, Tesla's FSD "still has a lot of room for improvement", Russell said. " There is nothing wrong with the fundamentals of what they are trying to do, "he said." the only contradiction is the authenticity of advertising and the manipulation of some consumers, which is very questionable. Needless to say 'full autopilot', calling it 'autopilot' is a fundamentally inaccurate statement. "
Unlike Mr Musk, Russell has said that the future of fully self-driving cars is decades away, calling himself the "chief self-driving car sceptic" and saying there has always been an "assumption" that the self-driving problem will be solved in the next few years. "even today, it is still out of reach. there is no commercially viable business around all this." He said.
