News
Volkswagen orders $4B in LiDAR sensors, what Elon Musk calls ‘a fool’s errand’
Volkswagen has reportedly ordered up to $4 billion of LiDAR sensors from Israeli company Innoviz Technologies to help develop self-driving programs for the German automaker. Fresh off of its recent mutual removal of CEO Herbert Diess from the Group’s executive lineup, Volkswagen is putting considerable sums of money into a self-driving strategy that Diess’s industry best friend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has called “a fool’s errand.”
Reports from Bloomberg showed Volkswagen’s software unit Cariad purchased $4 billion in sensors, bringing the company’s total order sheet to roughly $6.6 billion. Innoviz CEO Omer Keliaf said there is potential for more purchases and supply deals with VW in the future.
It is the latest move for VW, which recently decided to amicably cut ties with its Chief Executive Herbert Diess, who has spearheaded the company’s involvement in electric vehicles. Electrification efforts often coincide with self-driving projects, and while ICE vehicles also have Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the future of autonomy is uncertain. It is unknown who will figure it out first, and when they will do it.
With companies committing to all-electric lineups as soon as 2035, it is likely that self-driving vehicles will only be electric as it will take some time to figure out. Company approaches vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but one thing remains the same: Every automaker is different.
How companies plan to tackle self-driving vehicles is entirely up to them. Tesla, which has been working on its Full Self-Driving fleet for several years, is still attempting to solve various things, like Autosteer on City Streets. It has taken an unorthodox approach to self-driving, axing any radar modules from its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles last May and its flagship Model S and Model X cars in February 2022. While it has tested LiDAR in the past, CEO Elon Musk has stated that anyone relying on the strategy would be “doomed.”
“LiDAR is a fool’s errand,” Musk said at Tesla’s Autonomy Day in 2019. “Anyone relying on lidar is doomed. Doomed…expensive sensors that are unnecessary. It’s like having a whole bunch of expensive appendices. Like, one appendix is bad, well now you have a whole bunch of them, it’s ridiculous, you’ll see.”
Tesla’s Autonomy Day highlights Elon Musk’s vision for a full self-driving future without LiDAR
LiDAR helps utilize lasers to determine the distance between objects. They are expensive, but many companies have gone into the LiDAR path, like Waymo and Cruise, which recently obtained the first-ever permit to carry out driverless ride-sharing services in the San Francisco Bay Area.
This is not to say that Diess was axed because of his friendship with Musk, nor is it to say that Diess was a major proponent against LiDAR due to his relationship with the Tesla CEO. However, it is clear cut that in the game of electric vehicles, there are allies, but there are never friends. After all, it is a race to see who can figure out autonomy first, and Volkswagen has been biting at Tesla’s heels with dreams of eventually surpassing the world’s best-selling electric automaker.
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Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) will report its earnings for the second quarter of 2026 this evening after market close, and investors and analysts are waiting anxiously to see what the company will report for the second three-month span of the year.
Analysts have already put out their expectations from a financial standpoint for the company’s second quarter, but what’s unknown is what Tesla plans to discuss during the call.
Financial Expectations
Wall Street consensus expectations put Tesla’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) at $0.53, while revenues are expected to come in around $26.4 billion.
This would compare to an EPS of $0.39 and $22.19 billion compared to Tesla’s Q2 2025. Last quarter, EPS came in at $0.41 on $22.387 billion of revenue. Additionally in Q1, Tesla beat analyst expectations, but shares dropped over 3 percent the following trading day.
What We Expect
In terms of discussions, Tesla earnings are pretty sporadic and depend on a handful of things, including current events, investor questions, and more.
Tesla uses a platform called Say to field questions from investors and analysts. These questions are what will be used during the call. Here are the top 5 from the Retail side and top 3 from the Institutional side:
Retail:
“Tesla has missed short-term guidance on robotaxi 3 earnings reports in a row, from 50% coverage of USA by end of 2025 to most recently 7 new cities in 1H26. What is keeping Tesla back from accomplishing these short term goals that they’ve set for themselves?”
“What are the main constraints to expanding robotaxi operations faster, and how do you see that lining up with Cybercab production?”
“What’s the current status of Optimus Gen 3 production ramp, initial deployment in factories, and external sales timeline/volume for 2027? What tasks can we expect the Optimus to perform by end of 2027?”
“To reward long-term Tesla retail shareholders for their loyalty, can you commit to achieving at least half of the goals outlined in your 2025 compensation plan before considering any offers to acquire or merge Tesla?”
“Why has growth of robotaxi vehicles stalled? When will we see cybercab start customer rides?”
Institutional
“Previously, you’ve said Tesla would lead the R&D while SpaceX would lead production for Terafab. Can you provide an update on how that division of responsibilities is evolving, and any additional clarity on the expected capital contributions from Tesla and SpaceX?”
“For autonomous driving, Tesla’s fleet created a huge data advantage by collecting billions of real-world miles. That advantage doesn’t yet exist for Optimus. How should we think about data availability and its impact on Optimus development?”
“Why is it necessary to limit robotaxi operations within specific zones within cities to start? Will every city have to be rolled out this way?”
Tesla will report earnings for Q2 this evening with the Shareholder Deck at 4 p.m. ET, with the call starting around 5:30 p.m. ET.
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
Tesla starts preparing for Optimus in its smartphone app
