Hesai Ships Over 100,000 LiDARs in December
Hesai Group, a leading LiDAR maker in China, achieved a significant milestone by delivering over 100,000 LiDARs in December, making it the first company globally to accomplish this feat. These LiDAR products were primarily utilized in robotics for various applications like mobile robots, delivery robots, sweeping robots, and lawn mowing robots. Impressively, the company managed to ship more than 20,000 LiDAR units for robotics in a single month.
Looking ahead to 2025, Hesai aims to increase its annual production capacity to over 2 million units. The company’s LiDAR technology is predominantly employed in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for automobiles. In the initial three quarters of the year, Hesai dispatched 263,148 units of ADSA LiDARs, constituting 94% of the total LiDAR shipments of 279,835 units as per its third-quarter financial report.
Additionally, Hesai recently received orders for new LiDAR models from key domestic automotive brands, expanding its customer base to 21 automakers and over 100 models. Notably, the upcoming models in 2025 from these automakers will feature Hesai’s ATX compact and ultra-high-definition LiDAR technology. The company plans to integrate the ATX LiDAR into production vehicles by the first quarter of 2025.
In the growing landscape of smart electric vehicles (EV), a debate persists on whether LiDARs should be incorporated into vehicles. While Tesla remains an advocate for pure vision smart driving solutions, Chinese EV manufacturers like Xpeng, Nio, and Li Auto have made varying decisions regarding LiDAR integration. Notably, Li Auto founder Li Xiang expressed that their company’s models will continue to use LiDAR technology in the future. He even humorously remarked that Tesla CEO Elon Musk might consider LiDAR if he ever drove on Chinese highways at night, signifying the potential benefits of LiDAR technology in certain driving conditions.
