lol no. From what I understand they run lidar variants side by side with FSD so they can correct and compare the systems [/quote]
This is what I found mentioned as well, but it doesn't make sense for Tesla to buy $2 million in LiDAR sensors from Luminar if they're just for validation. Sure, that's maybe not enough to put a significant dent in Model Y/3 sales quantities, but for a few hundred/dozen test mules and an early production run for robotaxis? Maybe?
A Tesla Model Y has been spotted on California's highway 101 with a large LiDAR sensor array mounted to its roof. The bulky hardware suggests that Tesla is conducting testing, either to validate its camera-based self-driving or as part of its engineering efforts for a LiDAR-based robotaxi.