Hesai to exclusively supply Changan with 1.5 million Lidar units

On December 5, Hesai announced that it would be Changanโ€˜s exclusive provider of automotive long-range lidar units. The deal covers the Hesai ATX compact Lidar unit model released in April this year. Itโ€™s expected that 1.5 million units will be supplied over the next few years and that these will be applied to 10 vehicle models from various Changan brands.

The first of these models will reportedly enter mass production in the second half of 2025. This model is possibly the new Changan Nevo model, which was teased in a poster on December 6 and is believed to be the car previously known by the C798 code name. It is clear from these teaser images that the electrified SUV does feature Lidar.

Teaser poster for new Nevo SUV which may be the first Changan model to use the Hesai ATX Lidar unit

Although launched in April, the ATX Lidar will only reach mass production in the first quarter of 2025 and will start being incorporated into cars in 2025. It is a compact ultra-high-definition long-range Lidar equipped with Hesaiโ€™s cutting-edge fourth-generation chip architecture.

Changan and Hesai have been cooperating since 2022. In October, the Changan Nevo E07 pickup SUV was launched, equipped with two Hesai AT128 lidar units.

Compared to the AT128 units fitted to the Nevo E07, the ATX is a fourth-generation product with significant advantages in terms of size, weight, and capability.

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There is a 60% decrease in overall volume. The ATX unitโ€™s height is 25 mm compared to 48 mm of the AT128 unit. Similarly, the long Edge is reduced down to 100 mm from 137 mm. This obviously makes the unit far easier to fit into the roof of a car without disrupting aerodynamics or space too much. Weight is also down by 60%, with the ATX unit weighing 360 grams.

The maximum detection range is up to 300 meters. Using a proprietary IPE (Intelligent Point Cloud Engine), it can filter out 99.9% of environmental noise, such as rain, fog, exhaust fumes, and water splashes from the road. It supports a 120- to 140-degree field of view and has a 256-channel maximum supported count. Power consumption is 8 watts.

It should be pointed out that 1.5 million Lidar units are not actually that many. That number means likely somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 million cars fitted with them. Changan is on the verge of selling 100,000 NEVs (BEVs and PHEVs) per month. Currently, NEVs are by far the largest users of Lidar units, and so the figure represents only about a yearโ€™s worth of production for Changan, although, of course, not all models will be fitted with the Lidar unit.

Hesai Technology plans to cut the price of Lidar units by 50 percent in 2025, thereby enabling widespread adoption of the technology with NEVs. According to Li Yifan, CEO of Hesai Technology, Hesai is entering a phase where millions of cars are sold each year equipped with lidar. The price reduction will make the technology attractive to even vehicles priced under 150,000 yuan (20,650 USD).

Sources: Hesai, Fast Technology, Autohome

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