Tesla says cameras are better than other sensors. Americans disagree.
70% of Americans would prefer autonomous cars to use both cameras and lidar.
Tesla has staked its autonomous driving future on a relatively cheap solution: using cameras alone rather than a combination with the much more expensive lidar that its competitor, Google’s Waymo, employs to operate its self-driving cars. It’s a stance that puts Tesla at odds with most Americans, new data shows.
According to new survey data from Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report, some 70% of Americans said in August that autonomous vehicles should employ both cameras and lidar, while 71% said the government should require companies to use both.
(Of course, the vast majority Americans also say they wouldn’t consider riding in a robotaxi in the first place.)
Tesla is hoping that by keeping costs low for its cars, which are just a fraction of the price of Waymo’s, it will be able to scale its autonomous ambitions much more quickly and cheaply, since it says pretty much any of its cars on the road could potentially be self-driving with updated software.
Musk earlier this year predicted “millions of Teslas operating autonomously” by the end of 2026. So far Tesla’s Austin robotaxi program, which doesn’t have a driver but does have a safety monitor sitting in the passenger seat, has about 30 autonomous cars on the road.
Meanwhile, Waymo so far operates about 2,000 autonomous vehicles.
In a post on X Thursday, Tesla reiterated its stance, saying, “Pure vision beats sensors,” while showing a 3D map of traffic surrounding a Tesla, generated from its cameras.
Pure vision beats sensors pic.twitter.com/1z1sNaiOY4
— Tesla (@Tesla) August 29, 2025
