Hesai releases world's first full-color LiDAR chip, supporting up to 4,320 laser channels
The world's first chip to generate color 3D point clouds directly, with up to 4,320 laser channels.
Hesai, a leading LiDAR manufacturer, has unveiled a breakthrough chip that fundamentally changes how machines perceive their environment. The technology achieves a pixel-level native fusion of color perception and distance measurement directly at the underlying hardware level. This eliminates the traditional, complex process of stitching together separate camera images and LiDAR data in software. Instead, the sensor can directly generate a rich, color 3D point cloud model with native color information for each data point, streamlining perception pipelines and enhancing data accuracy.
The new chip will be the core of Hesai's next-generation ETX series LiDAR sensors. This upgraded platform offers flexible configurations, supporting a range of solutions from 1,080 to 2,160 and up to a massive 4,320 laser channels. The high channel count translates to greater point cloud density and resolution, providing more detailed environmental models for autonomous systems. Hesai has announced that this ETX series is expected to enter mass production and begin deliveries to automotive OEMs in the second half of this year, marking a significant step toward commercial deployment of this advanced perception technology.
- World's first chip for native full-color LiDAR, fusing color and depth data at the hardware level.
- Eliminates complex software stitching, directly generating color 3D point clouds for faster, more accurate perception.
- Powers new ETX series with up to 4,320 laser channels, slated for automotive delivery in H2 2024.
Why It Matters
This simplifies and enhances perception for autonomous vehicles and robots, moving critical processing from software to dedicated, efficient hardware.