Hesai Announces Plan to Double Annual Lidar Production Capacity at CES 2026

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hesai Technology (NASDAQ: HSAI; HKEX: 2525), the global leader in lidar solutions, announced today that it will double its annual production capacity in 2026 — from 2 million units to over 4 million units — driven by accelerating demand for ADAS and robotics lidar.

Scaling to 4 Million Units: Powered by Strong In-House Manufacturing

In 2025, Hesai became the world's first automotive lidar company to surpass 2 million cumulative deliveries. To meet rising demand, the company is expanding its annual production capacity to more than 4 million units in 2026, setting a new benchmark for the industry.

This expansion is backed by Hesai's robust in-house manufacturing capabilities. By building an integrated R&D and production center from the ground up, the company has established a solid foundation for mass production while maintaining consistent quality at scale. Hesai has developed four generations of proprietary ASICs, enabling rapid product iteration, high reliability, and globally replicable production. Its fully automated production lines now feature a 10-second cycle time — the average time for a new lidar unit to roll off the line.

Hesai's scalability will be further enhanced by its newly announced factory in Bangkok, Thailand, currently under development to support rising global demand. Operations are expected to begin in early 2027.

"Our customers are scaling faster than ever, and we are scaling with them. By expanding our annual capacity to over 4 million units and adding our new Thailand facility, we're building a global manufacturing footprint that can reliably support mass production. Our commitment is simple: deliver world-class lidar, at scale, with the consistency and trust that the automotive industry demands," said David Li, Co-founder and CEO of Hesai.

Elevating Safety with Next-Generation L3 Automotive Lidar Suite

The ADAS market is experiencing rapid growth, and lidar has become a standard safety feature. Acting as an "invisible seatbelt," lidar plays a critical role in preventing accidents before they occur. Lidar-equipped vehicles reduce fatal highway accidents by 90% and lower regular traffic accidents by 30% compared with camera-only systems^[1]. The impact is now measurable at scale: China's EV market lidar adoption rate has reached 28%, meaning one in four electric vehicles on the road is now equipped with lidar^[2].

To date, Hesai has secured design wins from 24 automotive OEMs for mass-production programs. Key partners include a top European OEM, a leading global automaker in NEV sales, Li Auto, Xiaomi, Changan, Geely, Great Wall Motor, Chery, Zeekr, Leapmotor, SAIC Audi, SAIC-GM, a Toyota joint venture, among other top automakers. Hesai's new ATX lidar has already secured orders exceeding 4 million units from multiple leading OEMs, with mass production and delivery starting in April 2026.

Driven by new safety regulations and redundancy requirements, each L3 vehicle is now expected to adopt up to 3-6 lidars, significantly expanding Hesai's addressable market. At CES, Hesai is presenting its next-generation L3 automotive lidar suite, featuring the long-range ETX and short-range FTX lidars. With compact form factors designed to simplify vehicle integration, ETX is optimized for behind-the-windshield, in-cabin installation, while FTX enables short-range blind-spot detection.

Enabling the Next Wave of Physical AI with Hesai Lidar

Beyond the ADAS market, the robotics industry is entering a hyper-growth phase powered by breakthroughs in AI. As robots move from controlled environments into a wide range of real-world applications, reliable, high-precision perception has become essential — and Hesai lidar serves as the "eyes" of physical AI.

In the robotaxi and robotruck markets, companies worldwide are rapidly scaling autonomous fleets. Because safety in this market is non-negotiable, customers require the highest-performing, highest-quality lidars. As a result, Hesai is at the center of this transformation. At CES, visitors can see live point-cloud demonstrations from the 360° long-range OT128 and learn how it is powering large-scale L4 robotaxi deployments at Baidu, Pony.ai, Motional, WeRide, and other innovators, with some vehicles integrating up to eight Hesai lidars each.

In the robotics and industrial markets, Hesai's JT series mini 360° hyper-hemispherical 3D lidars have achieved strong, market-proven success. Featuring an extremely compact form factor, ultra-low power consumption, and an ultra-wide field of view, the JT series enables seamless integration across a wide range of mobile robots and industrial platforms. Since launch, the JT series has surpassed 200,000 cumulative deliveries. This momentum is reflected at Hesai's CES booth, where an expanding range of robotics applications now leverage the JT series — including lawn-mowing robots, intelligent companion robots, humanoid robots, AGVs and AMRs, and 3D digitalization devices — from leading innovators such as DREAME, Vbot, MOVIN, and Realsee. Together, these collaborations are accelerating the deployment of physical AI.

As robotics and automotive technologies advance toward large-scale deployment, Hesai's lidar solutions are emerging as critical enablers of next-generation intelligent systems. Visitors are invited to stop by Hesai's booth (LVCC West Hall #5601) at CES to experience firsthand how the company's latest innovations are shaping the future of autonomy across industries.

For more information, or to book an interview with the Hesai team on-site, members of the media are invited to contact our PR team at [email protected].

SOURCE Hesai Technology