Change the World 2025
China’s Hesai Technology is working to make lidar technology affordable and accessible to the mass market. The World Health Organization estimates that road accidents cause around 1.2 million deaths a year, and many more serious injuries. The company claims that lidar-equipped vehicles can reduce accidents by 90% in high-speed scenarios, and by 20% overall. Hesai’s systems are now deployed in China, as well as in 40 countries across Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia, and are integrated into over 120 vehicle models. Since 2019, Hesai has managed to lower its costs by 99.5%, to about $200 per unit, bringing the cost of a lidar-equipped EV to as little as $15,000.