![[tesla-waymo 2025_11_27.excalidraw]] | Category | Waymo | Tesla | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Geography | Works only in small geo‑fenced Level‑4 regions (Phoenix, SF, LA, limited areas) | Operates nearly anywhere as Level‑2 FSD with no geographic restriction | | Mapping & Approach | Heavy reliance on HD maps + large amounts of hand‑coded logic | End‑to‑end AI (FSD v12), no HD maps needed | | Sensors | ~50 sensors (lidar, radar, cameras, ultrasonic) → very complex | Primarily cameras + simple hardware; minimal sensors | | Cost | Sensor suite alone estimated $40–50K per vehicle → hard to scale | Low‑cost, scalable hardware makes mass deployment feasible | | Data | <1,000 vehicles in limited cities → narrow data | Hundreds of thousands of vehicles; 500M+ FSD miles → broad, diverse data | | Overall Assessment | Strong in limited zones but expensive & slow to scale | Cheaper, scalable, and likely to expand faster; argued to be the true leader |