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YouTube Mark Rober published a video over the weekend claiming to show Tesla's camera-only Autopilot system is not as good as LiDAR-based systems.
Tesla adopted its controversial cameras-only approach in 2021, while many other companies use LiDAR sensors in addition to cameras. CEO Elon Musk called LiDAR "a fool’s errand" in 2019, claiming "anyone relying on lidar is doomed. Doomed! [They are] expensive sensors that are unnecessary," according to TechCrunch.
Rober, a former NASA engineer, runs six tests on the two vehicles. The LiDAR vehicle gets a perfect score, while the Tesla Model Y fails miserably in three. It runs over a mannequin of a child in foggy conditions, and another in heavy rain, while the LiDAR vehicle brakes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating Tesla for four crashes in low visibility conditions.
The video culminates in what Rober calls "the only test that matters." The Tesla drives into a large foam wall on the road, covered with an image of a road, Wile E. Coyote-style. It fails to recognize the visual trick and brake, while the LiDAR-equipped vehicle does.
"Nobody is handing out bonus points to companies that get by with only cameras," Edwin Olson, CEO of autonomous vehicle company May Mobility tells us. "Why wouldn’t you want the best of multiple sensor types so that you can build an even safer system?"
Many praised Rober for exposing Tesla's subpar system, while others immediately rushed to the company's defense. One issue is the title of the video, "Can You Fool a Self-Driving Car?" But the Model Y in the tests does not have not Tesla's Full Self-Driving software. It costs $8,000/year, so we can see why Rober wouldn't be keen to test it.
Instead, he appears to be testing the automatic braking functionality that comes with Autopilot, a less advanced autonomous driving product. It's still frightening to see the vehicle run over two child mannequins, but it's unclear if the test is a fair technical comparison. Although, last month a Tesla Cybertruck ran into a pole with Full Self-Driving enabled.
Some skeptical viewers claim Autopilot was not engaged when the vehicle ran into the wall. These allegations prompted Rober to release the "raw footage" in a X post, which shows the characteristic signs of Autopilot being engaged, such as a rainbow road appearing on the dash.
Others called the video a paid promotion by Luminar, the company that provided the LiDAR system. It's the same tech that will power autonomous driving features in the Volvo EX90 and ES90. Rober denies this claim, writing in the video description that Luminar "provided the vehicle for testing purposes, but no compensation was given, and this is not a paid promotion."
We reached out to Luminar for comment and it said, "We don't have anything to add beyond what's in the [YouTube video] description." In a twist, Tesla is actually Luminar's biggest customer, according to TechCrunch. It likely uses the sensors on its test vehicles.
Some have also criticized Rober for cashing in on recent anti-Tesla sentiment. He advertises his own product in the video description, which is an educational subscription box for kids. With 13.5 million views on the video as of this writing, and frequent advertisements, he has likely earned a nice paycheck.
Tesla has not responded to the video. It plans to launch its first robotaxi business in Austin in June amid a company-wide pivot to focus on self-driving.