Hesai Unveils World’s First 6D Full-Color LiDAR Chip, Expanding Automotive Perception and Entering Spatial Intelligence

Hesai Technology recently unveiled the world’s first 6D full-color LiDAR hypersensitive chip. Building upon traditional LiDAR’s ability to detect an object’s position and shape, this new chip simultaneously captures color information, directly generating colored point clouds. Under the same laser power, LiDAR products equipped with this chip achieve longer detection range, enhanced capability to identify smaller objects, and superior imaging performance in low-light conditions. This technology aims to improve the spatial and temporal fusion efficiency between LiDAR and camera data, enabling autonomous driving systems to combine LiDAR’s precise spatial perception with the semantic information provided by cameras—thereby enhancing overall environmental understanding. Hesai emphasized that this product will not replace cameras at this stage; in the future, it may at most substitute certain front-facing cameras. Multi-sensor fusion remains the industry’s mainstream approach. Regarding technical specifications, Hesai did not shy away from competing with Huawei on scan line count. Its ETX series LiDAR supports multiple high-resolution configurations—including 1,080-line, 2,160-line, and 4,320-line options—with mass production expected in the second half of 2024 and integration into multiple flagship vehicle models slated for 2027–2028. However, Hesai also noted that line count alone is not the sole critical metric; resolution, ranging capability, noise ratio, and field of view are equally important. Moreover, higher line counts entail increased hardware costs and computational demands. In 2023, Hesai shipped 1.6 million units, becoming the world’s first LiDAR company to achieve annual profitability. It has maintained positive net cash flow for three consecutive years, holds over 50% market share in the automotive LiDAR segment, and has ranked #1 in the industry for 13 consecutive months, with customers including Xiaomi Auto and Li Auto. Currently, LiDAR penetration in China’s automotive market stands at 8%, compared to just 3% globally—indicating significant room for growth. Additionally, the advancement of Level 3 (L3) autonomous driving is expected to drive an increase in the number of LiDAR units per vehicle. Beyond automotive applications, Hesai announced a strategic upgrade—expanding from spatial perception to spatial intelligence—and is now entering domains such as world models, embodied intelligence, AI hardware, and immersive interaction. The company simultaneously launched its AI hardware product, KOSOMO, designed for high-quality 3D spatial data acquisition, primarily serving physical AI training by providing robots with realistic environmental spatial data to reduce training bias and expand sample diversity. Furthermore, Hesai is developing robotic actuation modules, having already mastered core underlying technologies, with overall performance several times better than current solutions. Hesai stated that its expansion into new fields is not due to constraints in automotive business growth, but rather stems from the maturity and high predictability of its core automotive operations—allowing it to extend its existing technological capabilities into broader application scenarios.