>Lidar has no problem with snow, only when its _snowing_. However, if visibility is reduced, a pure visual approach is going to be even worse.
Good thing Teslas have radar...which penetrates falling snow.
>Musk made a mistake, and he's spending billions to prove that he never made it.
People drive fairly well with only visual sensors (eyes). That is proof of concept. Lidar seems like overkill.
That radar is utterly worthless for this sort of application, it has awful angular resolution. It can't tell the difference between a building next to the street and a truck parked in the middle of the street.
Musk made a mistake, and he's spending billions to prove that he never made it.
snow makes HD maps somewhat less useful, as the terrain changes shape. But then, you need a map that evolves. Sadly for musky, the only company that can do that using purely visual data is Scape Technologies. Not even lyft can do that.