Ford CEO Jim Farley doesn’t agree with CEO Elon Musk on what technologies work best for self-driving.
TL;DR: Farley said Waymo’s approach, which uses LiDAR in addition to cameras and radar, is the best approach for Ford. Tesla’s Robotaxi service and Full-Self Driving (FSD) vehicles use a cameras-only approach. “When you have a brand like Ford, when there’s a new technology, you have to be really careful. We really believe that LiDAR is mission critical,” Farley said at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday, according to a report from Fortune.
Waymo vs Tesla: Farley vs Musk
“To us, Waymo,” Farley said, according to the report, adding that Ford considered LiDAR to be important because “where the camera will be completely blinded, the LiDAR system will see exactly what’s in front of you.” One way of thinking about LiDAR is that it’s a safety net for what cameras may miss. In contrast, Tesla and CEO Musk have been adamant about a cameras-only approach.
Tesla, which launched its Robotaxi service in Austin earlier this month, is going with cameras-only for its Robotaxi service and FSD, the latter on option on Tesla vehicles and being promoted for the newest 2026 Model Y. “The way that the road system is designed is for AI. I should say it’s for intelligence, biological neural net and eyes. That’s how the whole road system is designed,” Musk said in a CNBC interview in May.
And Musk has also argued that Waymo’s system is too expensive. “The issue with Waymo’s cars is that they cost ‘way mo’ money,” Musk said during the first quarter earnings conference call. “The car is very expensive. Made in low volume. Teslas probably cost a quarter or 20% of what a Waymo costs,” he said.
Ford, for its part, currently offers BlueCruise, an Advanced Driver Assist System, that is analogous to Tesla’s Autopilot and General Motors Super Cruise. Like GM’s Super Cruise, Ford’s system is designed primarily for hands-free highway driving. Neither is as ambitious as Tesla FSD which is designed to handle both local and highway driving.