What Makes It Possible For Tesla To Ditch Radar? Cathie Wood's Ark Says Answer Lies Here

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management said on Monday Tesla Inc’s TSLA large fleet size may be a key reason for the electric vehicle maker’s ability to switch from radar to vision for autonomous improvement.

What Happened: The New York-based investment management firm said it believes the Elon Musk-led company has a significant advantage compared to its autonomous peers due to the 1.3-million-unit vehicle fleet — boosting its capability to train cars with 6,000 clips of a new release.

The lack of similarly large fleet sizes could be why the Musk-led company's rivals have "opted to include data from inexpensive radar and LiDAR in the autonomous solutions space."

A Tesla bull, Wood has in the recent past predicted that Tesla is going to go fully autonomous quicker than its competitors, thanks to the switch from radar to vision.

See Also: Tesla Begins Rollout Of 'Pure Vision Autopilot:' What You Need To Know

Why It Matters: Tesla has recently switched to strictly cameras and stopped using radar sensors. Musk has said that camera-based vision is more accurate than radar, and radar introduces more noise than helpful data in a sensor fusion system.

In January, Musk said that even if the cost of lidar sensors dropped to zero, Tesla would not utilize them.

Musk’s ambition to make autonomous driving with a vision-only approach has found critics who claim such a system could face challenges in low-light conditions such as in dark areas, poor weather conditions as well as sunny glares. 

Rival self-driving companies use a combination of cameras, radar and lidar.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 2.51% higher at $688.72 on Monday.