Back when Elon Musk was running Tesla, he was known for saying that LiDAR technology (basically laser beams that measure distances) was not needed to create full self-driving cars. And that's why their cars instead use a bunch of cameras to monitor the outside world.

Now, I'm not an engineer, but this never made much sense to me. Cameras can only see so far and they certainly can't see at night. So wouldn't laser sensing technology that can see 250-500 meters out — including at night — be greatly preferable when it comes to human safety, even if it costs more?

I'm reminded of what I said to my eye doctor before getting laser eye surgery many years ago: "This is not a transaction where I'm looking to be price sensitive. Get me the absolute best." And that's exactly how I feel when it comes to self-driving cars. I don't care if cameras are pretty good most of the time; I would prefer to have the best.

So which is the best? Damned if I know, but here's an interesting and also hilarious video by YouTuber and engineer Mark Rober where he compares the two technologies: cameras (i.e. Tesla) vs. LiDAR. I won't spoil it for all of you, but his last test is the "Wile E. Coyote test" and it's awesome.

At the time of writing this post, the video already has more than 11 million views and it seems to have been incredibly helpful to Luminar's stock price:

But now the internet is filled with speculation that he deliberately used the video to mislead people regarding Tesla's Full Self Driving capabilities and maybe even to pump's Luminar stock. (Full disclosure: I own a few shares, but this post is in no way any sort of investment advice.) I don't know if this is true or not. But I do think that the cars of the future will all come equipped with LiDAR.

Cover photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

Here's an interesting presentation by Albert Wenger, who is a partner at Union Square Ventures. He starts by showing a logarithmic chart comparing per capita energy consumption and GDP per capita. Then, by way of a clear empty area in the chart's data points, he makes the argument that there's no such thing as a wealthy, low-energy nation. If you're a wealthy country, you consume a lot of energy. That's just how it works. He then goes through a number of historical energy breakthroughs, landing on the point that, today, we are in need of much more energy. In other words, we need another energy breakthrough. We need it because we're still burning fossil fuels and putting too much carbon into the atmosphere, and because we have really big energy needs: everything from data centers to the full electrification of our homes, buildings, and cars. One piece of good news is that we are seeing exponential growth in solar energy. Today, our global install base is still relatively small, but the thing about exponential growth is that it can creep up on you fast.

It's an interesting presentation. And if you'd prefer to read his talk instead, which is/was my preference, you can do that here.

Canada is a metric country. We started adopting the metric system in 1970 and in 1971 we got the Weights and Measures Act. But even though we are officially a metric country, it is still common to use the imperial system in everyday life. For example, my driver's license says 190 cm, but I would never tell someone this, unless I were in Europe. I would use feet and inches.

The other area where it is common to use the imperial system is in construction and real estate. Officially, all drawings submitted to a municipality need to be in metric. Typically millimeters are used, meaning a common residential floor-to-floor height in Toronto works out to something like 2950 or 3000 if you want 9 feet clear to the underside of each slab.

As you can see, in design and construction it is very common to switch back and forth between millimeters and feet/inches. Marketing floor plans are typically always in square feet as well. A lot of this, I'm sure, has to do with our historical ties to the UK and our deep integration with the US market.

But the reality is that switching back and forth is inefficient, and imperial weights and measures feel like a random and outdated system. Nate Bargatze does a hilarious job of highlighting that in this SNL skit called Washington's Dream. So I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go full metric. I wonder what it will take for the US to finally get on board with the rest of the world.

(Thanks to my business partner Lucas for sharing the above skit with me. I'm a big Nate Bargatze fan.)

Cover photo by patricia serna on Unsplash