> Didn't the DARPA grand challenge show self driving was a software problem, not a hardware problem? Yes, the software is the hard part. That's why it makes se

> Didn't the DARPA grand challenge show self driving was a software problem, not a hardware problem? Yes, the software is the hard part. That's why it makes sense to use hardware that makes the job of the software easier. LIDAR tells you how far away objects are; if you're using cameras you have to do that with software instead. AFAIK no one yet knows how to do computer vision with cameras in the sorts of situations a self-driving car needs (though I'm not a vision researcher). That means that Tesla is betting on solving a research problem to get the cars they've already sold to start driving themselves. I always thought that was an insanely audacious business plan.