> "Before you jump on it, no LIDAR is no silver bullet... but it's available technology that can help quite a bit. Why not use it?" Because Elon wanted to adve

> "Before you jump on it, no LIDAR is no silver bullet... but it's available technology that can help quite a bit. Why not use it?" Because Elon wanted to advertise his cars as having all the hardware necessary, because the automotive automation hype is very real. He wanted to sell luxury cars to tech enthused idealists, but he didn't want to cut down on his profit margins by actually delivering what he was selling. The fact that he always admitted the software was lacking gave him plenty of cover. It allows his customers to continue to believe, even though their car can't actually drive itself. That's the beauty of selling hopes and dreams instead of anything concrete.