On the contrary, LIDAR is only recently coming into its own:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-08/alphabet-...

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/01/googles-waymo-invests-i...

What I'm 'implying' (saying outright I thought) is that Tesla hardware is unsuitable for the continued advance of automation functionality. What they're doing currently is already pushing their inadequate sensors to the limit.

Are Tesla cars equipped with enough processing power? I agree that with some good cameras a ton of processing power and a super AI you could avoid crashes, I mean Tesla hit a fire Truck, the cameras would have been enough to detect the obstacle but the AI or the hardware needed to process the camera output is years behind what it should be.

I think you have an unrealistic understanding of the state of visual processing systems today.

The hardware simply isn't capable of the processing necessary to develop 360-degree situational awareness at the speeds that a vehicle would be driving.