$200 to enable better FSD vs a decade of struggle to get FSD only partially working with $20 cameras. Which one do you think is more expensive overall?
The fact that we still do not have a significant number of cars with LIDAR on our streets somewhat proves which approach the auto industry considers viable for business.
I am much more curious about the next ten years. If we can bring down the cost of a LIDAR unit into parity with camera systems[1], I think I know the answer. But I thought that 10 years ago and it did not happen so I wonder what is the real roadblock to make LIDAR cheap.
[1] Which it won't replace, of course. What it will change is that it makes the LIDAR a regular component, not an exceptionally expensive component.
You won't get rich with a $30,200 robotaxi, you won't even have a viable business. The game is the mass market and there the usual unit of currency is not cents, its tenth of cents.
All taxis are variants of mass produced cars, that will not be different for robotaxis. The mass market is the enabler and there every tenth of cent counts.
