A day after Elon Musk touted a breakthrough in Tesla Inc.’s TSLA full self-driving technology, the company’s vision-only approach to autonomous driving came under renewed scrutiny on Wednesday. Prominent investor Ross Gerber pointed out its limitations in handling different environmental conditions.
What Happened: Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, noted on X that his Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system becomes ineffective when dust or ash interferes with the cameras, or when dealing with sun glare.
“My Tesla FSD doesn't work when dust or ash get in the cameras,” Gerber said.
His comments come at a crucial time for Tesla’s autonomous driving ambitions, as the company recently announced its vehicles can now navigate autonomously from factory to loading docks without human intervention.
Why It Matters: The debate over Tesla’s camera-only approach has intensified following CEO Elon Musk‘s recent defense of the strategy during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
“Obviously, humans drive without shooting lasers out of their eyes… humans drive with eyes and a neural net and a brain,” Musk stated, reaffirming his stance against LiDAR technology.
This discussion emerges as Tesla faces increased regulatory scrutiny, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launching a probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD technology. Despite these challenges, Tesla remains optimistic about its autonomous driving future, with Musk predicting FSD will surpass human driving safety by the second quarter of 2025.
The controversy comes as Tesla reported mixed fourth-quarter results, with revenue of $25.71 billion missing analyst estimates. The company maintains that 2025 will be a “seminal year” for its FSD development, though critics like Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson argue that additional hardware beyond cameras is necessary for truly safe autonomous operation.
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