Hesai Technology, the world’s leading lidar company, and WeRide, the world’s leading L4 autonomous driving technology company, announced a new strategic cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, the two parties will promote the autonomous vehicle application of automotive grade, hybrid solid-state lidar, empowering scale deployment and commercial application of WeRide’s autonomous driving technology.
Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, said:
“Since the two parties reached strategic cooperation, Hesai has been one of our most trusted partners. WeRide’s autonomous driving vehicle fleets have reached 15 cities globally to commence road testing and operation, covering smart mobility, smart logistics and smart environmental services. We firmly believe in the safe, reliable, and commercially viable implementation of autonomous driving technology, while Hesai’s automotive grade, hybrid solid-state lidar represents a new trend in the development of AD sensing components. I believe this collaboration will further enhance the capability of our autonomous vehicles.”
As early as in 2019, Hesai’s Pandar series lidars were integrated onto WeRide’s first batch of hundred-unit Robotaxi fleets, successfully entering road testing and operation stage. Hesai’s lidar products have also supported WeRide to commercialize China’s first Robotaxi service to the public in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. The Robotaxi fleet has taxi operation permits and charges the same rate as any normal taxi in Guangzhou. The commercial operation has entered its third year of service. Hesai and WeRide’s collaboration keeps evolving. Hesai’s lidar sensors have been integrated into WeRide’s new autonomous driving products including Mini Robobus, Robovan, and Robosweeper.
Li Yifan, CEO of Hesai, said:
“WeRide is an innovative global pioneer with leading autonomous driving technology and a comprehensive commercialization layout. We are glad to work with WeRide to accelerate their commercial application of autonomous driving technology through Hesai’s newest hybrid solid-state lidar product AT128.”
As of January 2022, WeRide has reached over 10 million kilometers of autonomous driving on public roads, combining testing and operations with more than 300 AD vehicles. WeRide’s fleets comprise Robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan, and Robosweeper, running in cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Boao in China, San Francisco in the US, and Abu Dhabi in UAE, being tested and operated daily.
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The automotive grade, hybrid solid-state lidar AT128 uses Hesai’s self-proprietary chip technology, integrating 128 laser channels to achieve 1200×128 overall resolution and 200-meter detection range (at 10% reflectivity). It can effectively capture details of the objects within FOV to provide powerful perception capabilities for high level autonomous driving, further accelerating the iteration of autonomous driving algorithms. At the same time, the highly integrated transmit-receiver module and the stable scanning structure makes AT128 one of the most competitive and comprehensive lidars on the market. AT128 will be mass produced at Hesai’s new manufacturing center Maxwell, which will commence operation in 2022 with a planned capacity of over 1 million units per year.