Lidar's Wicked Cost Drop
cleantechnica.com
cleantechnica.com
Vision is obviously important but it is most definitely not all that humans use to drive successfully.
One of the most important things is not only recognizing what you see but also projecting it into the near future and responding appropriately. For example, seeing a truck tire disintegrate ahead of you on the freeway.
Things you can't see are equally important. Like black ice. Or the sound of a nearby crash or a honking horn. Or the status of a traffic light that is positioned just in front of the setting sun.
FSD needs all the help it can get and suggesting otherwise without proof is immature and foolhardy IMO.
The vision can be better or worse than human. Humans can move their heads to see beyond obstacles or avoid sun, but current AVs have multiple forward cameras and pretty good dynamic range to see dark things despite sun glare.
Which is not to say that lidar wouldn't help. It surely would.