Chinese AI chip provider Horizon Robotics and LiDAR provider Hesai Technology, both partners of Li Auto, reached a cooperation agreement on August 5 to collaborate on LiDAR sensing solutions for high-level autonomous driving.

The two will jointly develop and adapt based on Hesai's hybrid solid-state LiDAR AT128, Horizon Robotics' Journey 5 chip, according to an announcement.

The two will open up their sensing capabilities through open hardware and toolchains, enabling autonomous driving companies to develop their own algorithms and customize overall solutions for autonomous driving, the announcement said.

The two sides will be able to understand customer needs more deeply through joint development, and the Journey 5 chip and AT128 hybrid solid-state LIDAR will bring a more upgraded experience to customers, according to the announcement.

Journey 5 is Horizon Robotics' third-generation product after Journey 2 and Journey 3, with a single chip AI computing power of 128 TOPS and support for 16-way camera sensing calculations.

AT128 is a hybrid solid-state LiDAR from Hesai for ADAS front-mounted production vehicles, embedded with a dedicated self-developed chip, and is expected to be in mass production in 2022.

At the Journey 5 launch event, Horizon Robotics announced its intention to cooperate with many automakers for the first mass production of the Journey 5 chip and to cooperate with Li Auto based on Journey 5.

Hesai entered into a strategic AT128-based partnership with Li Auto in July this year, and the product has already received ADAS front-end volume production orders from several OEMs, with official deliveries expected to begin in 2022.

Horizon Robotics released Journey 2 chip in 2019, which is the first local vehicle-grade AI chip in China. It consumes 2W of power and is based on the BPU2.0 (Brain Processing Unit) architecture, providing over 4 TOPS of computing power for real-time processing of multiple types of intelligent driving tasks.

Horizon Robotics' Journey 3 chip is the first to be equipped in the 2021 Li ONE model, with more applications expected in the future.

Horizon Robotics plans to launch the Journey 5 chip in 2021, the Journey 5P in 2022 and the Journey 6 chip in 2023.

The Journey 6 chip meets ASIL-D, the highest level of automotive safety, with over 400TOPS of computing power, using a 7nm process.

Hesai has introduced several Pandar series LiDAR products in the past few years, including Pandar 40, Pandar 40P, Pandar 64, Pandar QT, and Pandar 128 for unmanned vehicles.

The company also offers Pandora, a multi-sensor fusion sensing suite, Pandar GT for advanced assisted driving, PandarMind for connected vehicle applications, and Pandar XT for the robotics market.

Li Auto signs deal with Chinese LiDAR supplier

(Photo source: Hesai Technology)