Overview

• At Aspen Ideas Festival, CEO Jim Farley asserted that LiDAR can detect obstacles where cameras fail and described it as mission critical for safe autonomy
• Ford confirmed it will not license Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software and will instead collaborate with established autonomy firms such as Waymo
• After ending its Argo AI joint venture in 2022, Ford has shifted to a partnership model and focused on its Level 2 BlueCruise hands-free highway driving aid
• Tesla continues operating its Austin robotaxi fleet with safety riders while Elon Musk defends the camera-only approach as a lower-cost, high-volume solution
• Automakers remain divided over safety redundancies and cost trade-offs between pricier, sensor-redundant LiDAR vehicles and camera-based systems