The Ford CEO, Jim Farley, has said that he believes that Lidar is “missionary” for any autonomous driving system and that when a brand like Ford explores the technology, it has to “be very careful” in its focus.
Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week, Farley was pressed by Elon Musk Walter Isaacson’s biographer to compare the current autonomous driving systems of Tesla and Waymo, asking what approach made more sense.
Farley’s response was “for us, Waymo,” according to Fortune, while explaining that Waymo had made “great progress” in the area of autonomous driving.
In a contract marked with the Waymo approach, which in its current sixth generation sees a set of 13 cameras, 4 lidar, 6 radar and a variety of external audio receptors act as their eyes and ears, Tesla uses a network of only eight cameras to give it a 360 degree view of the surroundings.
Elon Musk has long defended a “camera alone” approach for autonomous driving technology, calling Lidar “lame” for a day of autonomy in 2019 and then eliminating sensors from their cars, instead of opting to refine their camera technology and software in an attempt to rationalize the manufacturing process and reduce costs.
“The problem with Waymo cars is that it costs much more money,” Musk explained during the quarterly gain gains in April. “The car is very expensive, made in low volume. Teslas probably costs 25% or 20% of what a Waymo costs and is manufactured in a very high volume.”
Although Ford no longer pursues his joint autonomous driving company with Volkswagen (called Argo AI), he has continued to develop his own bluecrisal technology, which has a cruise control one step further by allowing drivers to take off their hands from the wheel when certain driving criteria are fulfilled.
Analysis: Better to be sure than cure
Elon Musk believes that artificial intelligence has improved at that pace that the need for a technology of lidar, overt voluminous and expensive chamber is not necessary for the highest levels of autonomous driving.
But so far, its Robotaxi business has only been seen on public roads with a security operator in the passenger seat and is already under investigation for the alleged erratic behavior of some vehicles.
Above all, it still has some way to go before it is updated with the Waymo operation, which is already completely active in several American cities.
The use of only eight cameras, unlike the consummated suite that is executed Waymo, limits the amount of redundancy systems available.
As Jim Farley points out: “Where the camera will be completely blinded, the Lidar system will see exactly what you are in front of you.”
Building a reliable and reliable autonomous management system is the only way to generate public confidence in technology. Once at that time, companies should look for ways to improve technology and reduce costs, instead of hurrying to cut corners.
