Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has repeatedly shared his views on LiDAR technology. Recently, he once again discussed the limitations of this technology, explaining why Tesla relies on a camera-based system and also pointing out the constraints faced by other companies, such as Waymo, when using it. A few years ago, Tesla completely abandoned the combination of radar and cameras, launching an entirely new solution called “Tesla Vision.” Since then, Tesla vehicles have relied solely on cameras for perception, and Musk has consistently upheld this strategy.
Earlier this week, he also commented on other companies’ reliance on LiDAR and radar in their autonomous driving systems, analyzing the limitations and challenges of these technologies.
“Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins?
This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That’s why Waymos can’t drive on highways.
We turned off radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw.”
He reiterated this point and, for the second time, specifically mentioned Waymo.
This time, Musk focused on the performance of Waymo vehicles in harsh weather conditions—particularly snow, rain, and sandstorms—and the challenges LiDAR faces in navigating these environments.
He said:
“LiDAR also does not work well in snow, rain or dust due to reflection scatter. That’s why Waymos stop working in any heavy precipitation. As I have said many times, there is a role for LiDAR in some circumstances and I personally oversaw the development of LiDAR for the SpaceX Dragon docking with Space Station. I am well aware of its strengths and weaknesses.”
LiDAR also does not work well in snow, rain or dust due to reflection scatter. That’s why Waymos stop working in any heavy precipitation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2025
As I have said many times, there is a role for LiDAR in some circumstances and I personally oversaw the development of LiDAR for the SpaceX…
Tesla’s strategy is completely different from most other companies. Unlike Waymo, Motional, Aurora, and Zoox, which rely on LiDAR, Tesla insists on using only cameras for autonomous driving.
Elon Musk also pointed out that the Model S and Model X were once equipped with Tesla’s self-developed high-resolution radar, but it was eventually discontinued because its performance “could not match passive optical sensors (cameras).
Tesla developed high resolution radar and the hardware is actually present in Model S & X, but it just can’t compare to passive optical (cameras), so we turned it off.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2025
As a side note, any military systems that rely on radar “stealth” technology are toast in a modern conflict,…