Tesla bought over $2M worth of Lidar sensors from Luminar this year

  • This is 2,100 lidar sensors. Not a very large number, the article speculates that it is for company-owned auto drive testbeds. I wonder if they are for the humanoid robots.

  • Waymo's approach to robotaxis is so different in terms of planning, execution, and technology it is hard to imagine Tesla catching up. Tesla also follows a pattern: Grok is not a serious AI effort, the tunnels were just trolling the idea of mass transit, zero solar roofs got installed, etc.

  • Wow, wonder what they're going to use them for since lidar is a "crutch" and "anyone relying on Lidar is doomed" according to Musk.

  • who knows, they might use them in their factory.