Chinese-made lidars showcased at CES 2022 to promote autonomous driving

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese company Hesai has showcased some advanced and low-cost products at the ongoing 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), contributing to the development of the struggling autonomous driving industry.

Hesai, a Shanghai-based high-tech company, showcased AT128, a long-range hybrid solid-state lidar for driver-assistance systems (ADAS) applications in mass production passenger and commercial vehicles.

AT128 provides the essential perception capabilities that L3+ autonomous vehicles require and could be seamlessly integrated onto the vehicle, Connie Su, the company's public relations director, told Xinhua.

"AT128 has a ranging capability of 200 meters at 10 percent reflectivity, with effective ground detection as far as 70 meters. It is one of the few hybrid solid-state lidars on the market that can detect objects at such a long range, while also reaching such a high measurement frequency," she said.

Apart from high reliability, AT128 greatly simplifies the traditional complex assembly process, thus increasing manufacturing efficiency and consistency for mass production needs. The sensor will begin mass production in 2022.

Hesai also unveiled a new sensor, QT128, a short-range lidar with 105 degree ultra-wide vertical field of view, providing blind spot solution for robotaxis and robotrucks. QT128 will begin mass production in 2023.

Lidar, an acronym of "light detection and ranging," is a key equipment used in control and navigation for autonomous driving vehicles. Researchers forecast that by 2025, approximately 8 million autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles will run on the road.

However, as one of the most hot tech trends, autonomous driving has been struggling for a long time to step over the barrier of cost since a huge and expensive lidar censor is difficult for customers to accept. Hesai and other leading companies at this year's CES send a positive signal to the industry.

The CES 2022 kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Wednesday amid another surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.