Crutch for what? AI does not have human intelligence yet and let’s stop pretending it does. There is no shame in that as the word crutch implies.
If a sensor provides additional data, why not use it? Sure, humans can drive withot lidars, but why limit the AI to using human-like sensors?
Why even call it a crutch? IMO It's an advantage over human sensors.
Quality of additional data matters. How often does a particular sensor give you false positives and false negatives? What do you do when sensor A contradicts sensor B?
“3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible.”
Probably comes down to lidar (and Ai) failure modes.
Also don’t forget that as a human you can move your head any which way, and also draw on your past experiences driving in that area. “There is always an old man crossing the road at this intersection. There is a school nearby so there might be kids here at 3pm.” That stuff is not as accessible to a LIDAR.
That's because our stereoscopic vision has infinitely more dynamic range, focusing speed and processing power w.r.t. a computer vision system. Periphery vision is very good at detecting movement, and central view can process tremendous amount of visual data without even trying.
Even a state of the art professional action camera system can't rival our eyes in any of these categories. LIDARs and RADARs are useful and shall be present in any car.
This is the top reason I'm not considering a Tesla. Brain dead insistence on cameras with small sensors only.
You’re not considering them even though they have the best adas on the market lmao suit yourself