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11 Dec 2024
Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile expected to deploy new 'ATX' sensor in large volumes.
Hesai, rated by analyst Yole Intelligence as the market leader in automotive applications of lidar, says it has signed exclusive new deals to provide two of China’s leading car makers with upwards of a million new sensors.
Based in Shanghai but listed on the Nasdaq, Hesai announced that both Great Wall Motor and Changan Automobile will soon start receiving the company’s latest “ATX” units, which are touted for long-range sensing of up to 300 meters from a unit occupying half the volume of previous designs and measuring just one inch in height.
Changan’s order is expected to exceed 1.5 million units, spread over the next few years and deployed on more than ten different car models.
Mass production schedule
Great Wall, which signed a strategic partnership with Hesai earlier this year and already uses the firm’s “AT128” sensors on its WEY Blue Mountain SUV, is expected to rely on the lidar technology for its “Navigation on Autopilot” feature.
Changan agreed a similar partnership back in 2022, and its Nevo E07 car - launched in October - is already equipped with two of Hesai “AT128” sensors.
“Hesai's ATX is steadily approaching mass production with multiple automotive companies selecting the ATX as a standard configuration for mass-production models in 2025,” stated the lidar specialist.
Key attributes of the ATX, which Hesai first revealed in April this year, include a horizontal field of view reaching 140°, a range of 200 meters for 10 per cent reflectivity objects, a 10 Hz frame rate, and a power consumption of just 8 Watts.
Stock boost
News of the two deals appeared to help buoy Hesai’s stock price, which has more than doubled in value in the past two weeks to reach a year-long high, in the process elevating the firm’s market capitalization towards $1.5 billion.
Ranked among the leading Chinese manufacturers by units sold, Changan said that it sold more than 2.5 million vehicles in 2023. Great Wall, which specializes in SUVs and pick-up trucks, reported last month that it was on course to produce more than one million vehicles this year.
Other production agreements signed by Hesai recently include a deal to supply “Yichi 06” robotaxis made by the Chinese tech firm Baidu, and although the company has seen its 2024 sales hit by production delays at customers including Li Autos, it was still expecting to ship around half a million lidar units this year - more than double the 2023 total.
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