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Elon Musk explains Tesla’s pure vision approach to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving
A recent set of updates from Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla is looking to eventually update its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving suite to a camera-based system. This means that in the future, Tesla’s all-electric vehicles would be navigating themselves and performing driver-assist functions without the use of components such as radar.
Musk’s update came as a response to a post from Tesla owner and FSD Beta user @WholeMarsBlog, who shared a clip of his Model 3 navigating away from a parking lot to its destination without input from its driver. In his response, Musk noted that FSD Beta V9.0, which has been highly-anticipated by the EV community, is almost ready.
Almost ready with FSD Beta V9.0. Step change improvement is massive, especially for weird corner cases & bad weather. Pure vision, no radar.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021
Elaborating further, Musk explained that the V9.0 update should improve the FSD Beta’s performance in corner cases and bad weather, which remain challenging to the advanced driver-assist system today. But this was not all, as Musk noted that the update would be “pure vision, no radar.” When prodded further, the Tesla CEO admitted that Tesla eventually plans to get rid of radar altogether in its future vehicles.
Unsurprisingly, Musk’s statements about Tesla’s impending removal of radar attracted its own fair share of critics, many of whom argued that a pure vision approach is a step backward. This is especially notable as Tesla is already using fewer sensors for its driver-assist systems compared to competitors like Cruise and Waymo, both of whom rely on lidar and high-definition maps to navigate.
Musk responded to these concerns, highlighting that ultimately, vision has the potential to be far superior to radar.
Sensors are a bitstream and cameras have several orders of magnitude more bits/sec than radar (or lidar).
Radar must meaningfully increase signal/noise of bitstream to be worth complexity of integrating it.
As vision processing gets better, it just leaves radar far behind.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2021
“When radar and vision disagree, which one do you believe? Vision has much more precision, so better to double down on vision than do sensor fusion. Sensors are a bitstream and cameras have several orders of magnitude more bits/sec than radar (or lidar). Radar must meaningfully increase signal/noise of bitstream to be worth complexity of integrating it. As vision processing gets better, it just leaves radar far behind,” Musk explained.
Tesla’s approach to full self-driving is partly based on the notion that humans do 100% of their driving through vision alone, without any radar or lidar use. This was highlighted by Tesla executives since Autonomy Day back in 2019, when the company unveiled its custom FSD computer. As for concerns about whether cameras could provide the same level of safety as radar in detecting what is happening several cars ahead, Musk noted that there’s a high probability that vision could perform just as well.
These things are best thought of as probabilities. There are 5 forward-facing cameras. It is highly likely that at least one of them will see multiple cars ahead.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2021
“These things are best thought of as probabilities. There are 5 forward-facing cameras. It is highly likely that at least one of them will see multiple cars ahead,” Musk said.
Tesla is not the only company in the market that is looking into a vision-only approach. Last year, Intel Corp released a video of an autonomous car from MobilEye that was navigating around Jerusalem for about 20 minutes. Unlike other self-driving vehicles, MobilEye’s car was only equipped with a suite of cameras and nothing else. The brief video was impressive, showing the MobilEye autonomous car going through four-way intersections with no traffic lights, as well as inner-city lanes that required the vehicle to avoid pedestrians.
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U.S. Judge dismisses lawsuit against SpaceX Starship Boca Chica launch site
The ruling found that the FAA had met its obligations in reviewing the potential environmental effects of Starship launches.

A U.S. district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservation groups challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of expanded rocket launch operations by SpaceX near a wildlife refuge in Boca Chica, Texas.
The ruling, issued Monday, found that the FAA had met its obligations in reviewing the potential environmental effects of Starship launches.
FAA review withstands legal challenge
The lawsuit centered on whether the FAA properly assessed the impact of SpaceX’s operations on endangered wildlife, including ocelots, jaguarundis, and Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, as noted in a report from The Guardian. The plaintiffs argued that noise, light pollution, and construction activity degraded the surrounding habitat, which also serves as nesting grounds for threatened shorebirds.
The lawsuit cited SpaceX’s April 2023 Starship test, which destroyed its launchpad and scattered debris across a large area. The blast reportedly ignited a grassfire and damaged wildlife habitats, including a bobwhite quail nest.
Judge Carl Nichols, for his part, ruled that the FAA had satisfied its obligation“to take a hard look at the effects of light on nearby wildlife.” The decision effectively clears a regulatory hurdle for SpaceX, which has been working to expand Starship launch activity at its Boca Chica facility.
A continued ramp
SpaceX continues to scale its operations nationwide. Beyond Starship, the company is also seeking approval to nearly double Falcon rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, from 50 annually to 95.
Former President Trump has also shared his intention to increase U.S. launch capacity, setting a target for substantial growth by 2030. Considering that SpaceX is by far the world’s dominant launch provider, Trump’s support for more launches will likely benefit the private space company. For now, at least, the ruling should allow continued expansion at a time when Starship remains central to long-term goals such as Mars missions and NASA’s Artemis program.
Elon Musk
Pope Leo XIV slams Elon Musk’s pay package due to misinformation (Opinion)
The Pope’s comments seem to be guided by a misunderstanding of what Elon Musk’s pay package entails.

Pope Leo XIV has voiced sharp criticism of corporate pay structures, singling out Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other business leaders as examples of the widening gap between executives and ordinary workers. The pontiff warned that excessive wealth concentration could erode societal values and fuel global polarization.
Pope Leo XIV’s comments seem to be guided by a misunderstanding of what Elon Musk’s pay package entails, and the net positive it would result to TSLA shareholders and the world as a whole.
Pope Leo XIV’s comments
In his first interview since becoming pope in May, Leo XIV, the first US-born head of the Catholic Church, pointed to reports that Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire. As noted in a report from the Financial Times, Pope Leo XIV singled out Elon Musk as an example of the type of wealth that was undermining “the value of human life, of the family, of the value of society.”
“Yesterday, the news (arrived) that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean, and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has any value any more, then we are in big trouble,” the pontiff stated.
Musk was not the only executive who caught the ire of the leader of the Catholic Church. He noted that while Musk’s pay was problematic, it was only an example of the “continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive.”
“CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it’s 600 times what average workers are receiving,” he stated.
Borne out of misrepresentation
A look at Pope Leo XIV’s comments surrounding Elon Musk’s wealth suggests that he may not necessarily be familiar with how the CEO earns his net worth. Musk’s wealth is tied to his stakes in his companies, with a good portion of it coming from Tesla and SpaceX. Thus, quite unlike what the mainstream media narrative might suggest, Elon Musk does not necessarily have a giant vault of gold coins he is hoarding somewhere.
If one were to look at Elon Musk’s pay package, which would result in him becoming a trillionaire, one would see that the CEO could only earn his keep if he proves immense value to Tesla and its shareholders.
His payout might be notable, but he would have to lead Tesla into becoming an $8.5 trillion company first. At this level, Tesla would likely be a notable force of good that would provide a net benefit for people worldwide. Ultimately, it appears that Pope Leo XIV’s comments about Musk may be borne from information gathered only through mainstream sources, some of which tend to have a notable slant against the CEO.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk affirms Tesla commitment and grueling work schedule: “Daddy is very much home”
The remarks came as Tesla shares crossed the $400 mark on the stock market.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reiterated his commitment to the electric vehicle maker and its future projects this week, responding to speculation following his $1 billion purchase of TSLA stock.
The remarks came as Tesla shares crossed the $400 mark on the stock market, extending a rally fueled in part by Musk’s TSLA purchase.
Elon Musk’s nonstop work schedule
Amidst the reaction of TSLA stock to Musk’s $1 billion investment, Tesla owners such as @greggertruck noted that “Daddy’s home.” Musk replied, stating that “Daddy is very much home.” He then shared details of a packed weekend of work, which was definitely grueling but completely within character for a “wartime CEO.”
Musk did note, however, that he had lunch with his kids during the weekend despite his extremely busy schedule.
“Daddy is very much home. Am burning the midnight oil with Optimus engineering on Friday night, then redeye overnight to Austin arriving 5am, wake up to have lunch with my kids and then spend all Saturday afternoon in deep technical reviews for the Tesla AI5 chip design.
“Fly to Colossus II on Monday to walk the whole datacenter floor, review transformers and power production (excellent progress), depart midnight. Then up to 12 hours of back-to-back meetings across all Tesla departments, but with a particular focus on AI/Autopilot, Optimus production plans, and vehicle production/delivery,” Musk wrote in his post.
Wartime CEO
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives described Musk as operating in “wartime CEO mode,” highlighting autonomous driving and AI as a trillion-dollar market opportunity for Tesla. Musk reiterated this point late last month as well, when he outlined the several projects he is juggling among his numerous companies. At the time, Musk stated that he was busy with Starship 10, Grok 5, and Tesla V14. This was despite his notable presence on X.
With Tesla Master Plan Part IV being partly released, the company is entering what could very well be its most ambitious stage to date. To usher in an era of sustainable abundance, Tesla would definitely require a “wartime CEO,” someone who could remain locked in and determined to push through any obstacles to ensure that the company achieves its goals.
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