Tesla Does About-Face, Buys $2 Million of LiDAR Sensors

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Tesla Does About-Face, Buys $2 Million of LiDAR Sensors

Tesla appears to be in the midst of a major strategy shift, purchasing some $2 million in LiDAR sensors, presumably for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) tech.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been famously opposed to the use of LiDAR, saying that “LiDAR is a fool’s errand,” and “anyone relying on LiDAR is doomed.” Despite Musk’s stated view on the tech, it appears Tesla may be changing its stance.

According to Luminar’s quarterly earnings report, Tesla was the company’s biggest LiDAR customer for the quarter.

Q1 Revenue of $21.0M increased 45% YoY, but fell 5% QoQ. This was consistent with our guidance for Q1’24 revenue to be in line to slightly lower than Q4’23 ($22.1M). The lower QoQ revenue was mainly driven by lower sensor sales to non-automotive customers. This was offset by sensor sales to Tesla, which was our largest LiDAR customer in Q1 and comprised more than 10% of our revenue in the quarter.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Tesla has tested out LiDAR. In May 2021, Teslas were spotted with LiDAR sensors and it was discovered that Tesla had purchased those sensors from Luminar. At the time, experts chalked it up to Tesla likely doing comparisons with its own camera-based tech.

“The more likely scenario is they are using the Luminar lidars to validate their camera-based FSD system,” Guidehouse analyst Sam Abuelsamid told Bloomberg at the time. “If they made that change, it would effectively deprecate their entire fleet of vehicles. They are not going to retrofit one million vehicles.”

While that take may have been accurate in 2021, the sheer size of Tesla’s recent order with Luminar is large enough that it would seem to indicate far bigger plans that merely comparing LiDAR to Tesla’s in-house camera-based FSD.

If Tesla is truly adding LiDAR to its FSD, it could help the company make a major leap forward in its self-driving tech, especially given how impressive FSD has been without LiDAR. Combining the two tech paths could help Tesla take a significant lead over its rivals on the road toward autonomous vehicles.

Tesla Does About-Face, Buys $2 Million of LiDAR Sensors
Matt Milano

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