That Musk is surrounded by sycophants means that Muntzing is now not going to work in general, because so many people will tell him that everything's fine even when it isn't. Only SpaceX can get past that, because RUDs are impossible to miss.
vision vs sensors. Isn’t it about shaving costs to make a mass produced car that’s attainable by more people due to lower costs and easier manufacturing? When considering engineering, manufacturing, and cost only - I understand why it is why it is right now. Even the current Tesla Vision FSD today is amazing. Agree that I’d love to see sensors in the future as long as it doesn’t price me out.
As for price, LIDAR has been built into high-end smartphones since at least the iPhone 12 Pro — 4.5 years ago. When LIDAR was new it made sense to avoid it, but I don't think that argument has been viable for a while now.
There's also the loss of ultrasonic sensors, which are cheap enough to be in budget teach-kids-electronics kits.