A plastic bag could also fly right onto the LIDAR, completely obstruct it, and it wouldn't matter what the software is capable of. These cars are going to need

A plastic bag could also fly right onto the LIDAR, completely obstruct it, and it wouldn't matter what the software is capable of. These cars are going to need some sensor redundancy. The Velodyne LIDAR Google uses costs somewhere near $75,000. I realize these sensors are new tech and are likely to nosedive in price, but having two is currently tremendously expensive. There needs to be a LIDAR unit that performs as well for a lot less before these are going to ever hit regular people.