China’s car industry gears up for next level of self-driving tech: sensor maker Hesai
Use of advanced hardware will pick up next year, with some carmakers already adopting it to ‘pre-empt rivals’, CFO says
Preparations are well under way in China’s auto industry for the next generation of autonomous-driving features, even before Beijing clears the regulatory road ahead, according to the chief financial officer of the world’s largest maker of automotive lidar sensors.
Beijing has yet to legalise L3 systems, which are considered “hands-off” under criteria set by global standards organisation SAE International. But that was not stopping carmakers from looking ahead, Fan said.
“Next year, we will see a more significant increase in adoption of advanced hardware and solutions used in cars that aim to meet the L3 standards,” Fan said. “In fact, some carmakers have already done this as they try to pre-empt their rivals.”
Top carmakers, particularly those focused on premium electric cars, such as Geely’s Zeekr and Huawei Technologies-backed Seres, have designed and developed intelligent vehicles that are deemed semi-autonomous and are fitted with advanced lidar sensors.