Ex-Tesla Guy Builds $100 Lidar To Fix Elon’s ‘Fool’s Errand’

KEY POINTS

•Eric Aguilar left Tesla in 2018, then founded Omnitron Sensors a year later to improve lidar technology.
•He has over 20 years experience, including work at Google X’s drone delivery and Argo AI before it shut down in 2022.
•Aguilar aims to make lidar cheaper and more reliable using silicon and semiconductor manufacturing at scale.
•He believes lidar is crucial for safer self-driving cars and humanoid robots, especially in confusing low-light conditions.

Eric Aguilar, once a Tesla engineer juggling Model 3 rollouts, ducks Elon Musk’s ‘lidar is a fool’s errand’ party and launches Omnitron Sensors in 2019. Aguilar's crusade? Make lidar cheap enough so luxury car brands stop crying every two months over broken, dance-floor-level disco ball lasers, which back in Google X drone days cost $120,000 per unit. Now? His silicon-powered lidar ambitions promise to cut prices to mere hundreds of dollars, hoping to win over Mercedes and GM. Fueled by past stints at Google X, Argo AI, and Tesla, Aguilar insists lidar is key for robots and self-driving cars, especially in low light when shadows play tricks on cameras. Because nothing screams safety like a robot relying on a laser disco ball to hold your baby.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

When a Tesla engineer calls Elon’s pet project a ‘fool’s errand’ and starts a $100 lidar revolution, you just know Silicon Valley can’t handle the truth (or the price tags).

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

From $120,000 Google moonshot to $100 silicon wizardry — lidar’s glow-up is the adult diaper of sensors: finally getting cheaper but still a pain to deal with.

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