The autonomous driving industry has spent years developing, testing, and validating autonomous driving technology to usher in safer, more efficient transportation for greater numbers of people. Though the industry has faced numerous challenges, a number of leading developers have also made tremendous progress, bringing us closer than ever to commercialization.
We’re excited to highlight our multi-year partnership with one such player – Zoox, a Silicon Valley-based autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon. This past December, Zoox publicly unveiled its robotaxi, equipped with multiple Hesai LiDARs to provide comprehensive coverage of the surrounding environment. The vehicle is fully autonomous and all-electric, with two seats that face each other and no steering wheel. It has four-wheel steering and can drive bidirectionally, allowing it to change directions without reversing.
Instead of retrofitting existing cars with self-driving technology, Zoox has created its own vehicle specifically for autonomous ride-hailing. This grounds-up approach allows for every element to be tailored for the specific end application, including the sensor suite. Over the past several years, Hesai worked closely with the Zoox team, outfitting multiple generations of Zoox vehicles in the process.
“Zoox has taken a radical approach to mobility,” said David Li, Hesai’s Co-founder and CEO. “They’ve not only built an end-to-end autonomy software stack – an enormous endeavor on its own – but also reimagined the vehicle itself. We’re excited to work together to bring their vision for a new kind of transportation to reality.”
“LiDAR is a uniquely enabling sensor modality and the market for the technology has been and will continue to be competitive and fast-moving,” said Bruce Baumgartner, Vice President of Procurement and Strategic Partnerships. “We’ve appreciated Hesai’s partnership and we’re excited to continue the work together.”
We’re committed to the Zoox mission to make personal transportation safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable. We look forward to continued growth and collaboration.
