[rhubarbtree]

Just to be clear, this article is talking about the possibility that this might happen one day. LiDAR remains prohibitively expensive AFAICT.

[culi]

This is not quite true. It depends what you're talking about. Automotive LiDAR sensor prices typically range from $150–300 today for standard units. Mid-range ADAS systems (Ls+/L3) sensors are about $600-750 and the long-range units used by robo-taxis like Waymos are about $1,500–6,000 or more per sensor

https://www.fleetowner.com/technology/article/55316670

The ~$75k per sensor in 2015 refers to the long-range sensors. 99% of production is from 4 Chinese companies: Hesai, RoboSense, Huawei, and Seyond.

[rhubarbtree]

I think the sensible cost to take is the latest cost in a Waymo model, as that's what "works" for automated driving [1].

I see numbers anywhere between $10K-$30K for that.

[1] to a limited extent in a limited area - it's inaccurate to say that Waymo vehicles are fully autonomous.