---
title: "Elon Musk Said Tesla Would Never Use This Tech That It’s Now Using"
description: "According to Bloomberg, Tesla is collaborating with Luminar, a LIDAR company \"fool's errand\" in 2019 — despite Elon Musk calling it a \"fool's errand.\""
date: "2021-05-25"
modified: "2021-05-25"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-lidar-tesla-model-y"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Tesla"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "lidar"
  - "lidar sensors"
  - "model y"
  - "tesla"
---

# Elon Musk Said Tesla Would Never Use This Tech That It’s Now Using

![According to Bloomberg, Tesla is collaborating with Luminar, a LIDAR company "fool's errand" in 2019 — despite Elon Musk calling it a "fool's errand."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/elon-musk-lidar-tesla-model-y.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://twitter.com/gbrulte/status/1395356317410287617?s=20" target="\_blank"\>Grayson Brulte via Twitter/Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has always been adamant that his car company is capable of developing an entirely camera-based self-driving system for its vehicles — without the need of LIDAR (or laser pulse-based light detection) technologies currently used by most other autonomous vehicle companies.

But according to images uploaded to Twitter by autonomous vehicle consultant Grayson Brulte, Musk's company may have changed his tune.

https://twitter.com/gbrulte/status/1395356317410287617?s=20

The photos, [*Bloomberg* reports](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-24/tesla-testing-luminar-laser-sensor-musk-called-fool-s-errand?sref=YfHlo0rL>), show a Tesla Model Y with a LIDAR rack mounted to its roof as it drives down a road in Palm Beach, Florida.

That's despite Musk [telling investors](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/500-lidar-system-prove-elon-musk-wrong>) that LIDAR technologies were a "fool's errand" in April 2019 and that "anyone relying on LIDAR is doomed."

In a 2018 earnings call, [Musk also called](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-lidar-tech-autonomous-vehicles>) LIDAR " a crutch that will drive companies to a local maximum that they will find very hard to get out of."

In other words, we may be seeing [yet another change of heart](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bitcoin-value-elon-flip-flop>) for the billionaire.

According to *Bloomberg*'s anonymous sources, Florida-based LIDAR company Luminar sold Tesla the sensors.

Luminar's shares rose right after the images were posted, seeing a 9.8 percent bump, *Bloomberg* reports — collaborating with one of the hottest car companies in the space is bound to raise plenty of interest among investors.

The images leave plenty of questions unanswered, though.

There's a chance Tesla is using the data it is gathering to fine-tune its camera-based self-driving systems, one expert told *Bloomberg*.

"If they made that change, it would effectively deprecate their entire fleet of vehicles," he argued. "They are not going to retrofit one million vehicles."

It's hard to make of what Tesla is trying to achieve with the testing. Musk appears to be adamant about ditching the technology long term.

"We believe that a vision-only system is ultimately all that is needed for full autonomy," Musk [told investors](<https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-fsd-beta-v9-two-weeks-away-elon-musk/>) during a 2021 Q1 investors call. "Our AI-based software architecture has been increasingly reliant on cameras, to the point where radar is becoming unnecessary earlier than expected."

Whether that will turn out to be the right decision remains to be seen.

**READ MORE:** [Tesla Tests Luminar Sensor Musk Scorned as ‘Fool’s Errand’](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-24/tesla-testing-luminar-laser-sensor-musk-called-fool-s-errand?sref=YfHlo0rL>) \[*Bloomberg*\]

**More on LIDAR:** *[This $500 Lidar System Could Prove Elon Musk Wrong](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/500-lidar-system-prove-elon-musk-wrong>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
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