Tesla’s vision-only, end-to-end AI approach gathers 40x more miles of real-world driving data per day than Waymo — and 900x more from its global fleet.
No LiDAR — Vision-only approach, lower hardware costs
The Fundamental Debate:
Waymo’s approach: Sensor redundancy with 29 cameras, 5 LiDARs, multiple radars. Claims 5x safer than human drivers, 12x safer for pedestrians.
Tesla’s approach: Camera-only, end-to-end neural networks trained on massive real-world data. FSD users travel 2.9 million miles between major collisions vs 505,000 for all drivers.
Why Data Volume Matters:
AI systems improve with data. Tesla’s approach collects edge cases and rare scenarios at a rate Waymo can’t match — every Tesla on the road is a data collection device.
The Question:
Does sensor redundancy beat data volume? Or will Tesla’s neural network approach, trained on orders of magnitude more data, eventually surpass hardware-heavy solutions?
“Waymo proves autonomy works. Tesla proves it can scale. The winner may be whoever combines both first.”
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
