Hesai launches a "Technology Equality" campaign

Author: Zheng Qiao

Editor: Zhou Zhiyu

At the Beijing International Auto Show, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu visited Xiaomi's booth, where Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun pointed to their SU7 and asked Wang Chuanfu, "Have you ever seen such a good-looking LiDAR?" This caused laughter among the audience.

Lei Jun then explained that this LiDAR was customized by Hesai Technology for Xiaomi's SU7. At the Beijing Auto Show, whether it's the million-dollar Lotus EMEYA or the 250-450 thousand yuan Li Auto L series, they all rely on Hesai Technology's LiDAR for autonomous driving. Even the 160 thousand yuan Leapmotor C10 autonomous driving version also uses a Hesai AT12 LiDAR.

LiDAR, which used to be showcased by various car manufacturers and only used in flagship models, is gradually being applied to mainstream market models as technology advances and costs decrease.

This is just the beginning. Hesai Technology is initiating a "technology equality" revolution to accelerate the application of LiDAR in the mainstream market.

Prior to the Beijing Auto Show, Hesai released the ultra-wide-angle long-range LiDAR ATX based on its self-developed fourth-generation chip architecture. It is reported that the ATX, equipped with the fourth-generation chip architecture, is 60% smaller in size and half the weight at 500g compared to the AT128.

Li Yifan, co-founder and CEO of Hesai Technology, revealed that the ATX has already been designated by multiple car manufacturers for various models, with mass production expected to start as early as Q1 2025.

Li Yifan believes that this year will be a crucial year for the LiDAR industry to "bridge the gap."

According to the Gao Gong Intelligent Automotive Research Institute, it is predicted that by 2024, the installed base of LiDAR will exceed 980,000 vehicles, and by 2025, it will exceed 1.75 million vehicles.

Li Yifan pointed out that in 2023, the installed base of LiDAR in the new energy market with over 150,000 vehicles has already reached 10.4%. It is expected that by 2024, with the expansion of the new energy vehicle market with over 150,000 vehicles, the installed base of LiDAR will significantly increase, approaching nearly 1 million units. By 2024, the market penetration rate of LiDAR will exceed 16%, and Li Yifan hopes it will actually be higher. Even at the level of 1 million units, it can still bridge the gap, and the industry will enter a phase of rapid growth.

Hesai Technology has not disclosed the price of this new product. Li Yifan told Wall Street News that the price of the product is not the most important factor. More importantly, while maintaining price competitiveness, it is crucial to ensure that the core performance of LiDAR as a safety component is not compromised.

He used the analogy of airbags to illustrate the potential value of LiDAR. In Li Yifan's view, as costs decrease and technology matures, LiDAR will no longer be just an accessory providing additional functions, but will become part of the car's safety system, similar to the role and status of airbags, becoming a standard consideration for consumers when purchasing a car Li Yifan attempts to tell a story. With further cost reduction, LiDAR can become an indispensable part of automotive safety systems. The goal is to ensure that cars, after the popularization of autonomous driving, have LiDAR on board to ensure redundancy in safety performance. After all, safety is the core element of a car and an important consideration for consumers when purchasing a car.

In the past, LiDAR was optional for everyone, but VESYNC wants to make it a standard safety feature.

Of course, there has always been controversy in the market about the pros and cons of LiDAR compared to pure vision systems. Tesla CEO Musk has also publicly criticized LiDAR, calling those who use LiDAR fools.

Li Yifan believes that although companies like Tesla advocate for pure vision solutions, LiDAR has irreplaceable advantages in solving specific problems, especially in terms of safety.

He also emphasized the impact of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) on the LiDAR industry, believing that the AEB function significantly enhances the value of LiDAR as a safety component, significantly reducing false trigger rates and improving safety.

Despite the current market entering into fierce price wars and having extreme cost requirements, VESYNC has not given up its pursuit of high performance and high quality. Li Yifan mentioned that VESYNC Technology has made forward-looking decisions in chipization, self-built factories, and internationalization, decisions that were not widely appreciated at the time but ultimately proved to be correct.

"I once thought that it was not understood by the market. Looking at it today, these are all the best choices in the market and final cognition. These choices determine that we may not be the best, but we have seen clearly."

As pure vision gradually becomes an industry consensus, with the belief that pure vision is the "correct" background, VESYNC is trying to change everyone's perception of LiDAR through this "technological equality" campaign, emphasizing LiDAR as a safety component rather than a functional component.

In addition, the LiDAR industry itself faces many challenges, including insufficient market penetration, low consumer awareness, and difficulties in cost control. These are the problems that Li Yifan must solve while painting a bright future for LiDAR.

Especially when LiDAR enters the mainstream market that is more sensitive to prices, how will VESYNC Technology convince car manufacturers and users? In this critical year for the LiDAR industry, VESYNC needs to find answers