LiDAR installed capacity ranking in the first half of 2024: RoboSense leads, Huawei second, and Hesai closely behind

In the first half of 2024, the automotive intelligent parts market as a whole showed a booming development trend, and all major segments showed strong growth potential, among which the lidar market attracted much attention.

According to the configuration data of Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, in the first half of this year, RoboSense ranked first with 235,511 units installed, accounting for 40.3% of the market share. Huawei Technologies followed closely behind with 143,862 units installed and a market share of 24.6%. Hesai Technology and Tudatong ranked third and fourth with 116,439 and 86,972 units installed, respectively, with market shares of 19.9% ​​and 14.9%.

RoboSense leads by a large margin

RoboSense has performed well in the automotive LiDAR market this year, continuing its position as the industry leader. Thanks to the high performance of its ADAS LiDAR products and the continued hot sales of multiple models, RoboSense has achieved significant growth in key indicators such as sales, market share, and customer base.

On August 15, RoboSense released its interim performance report for 2024. In the first half of 2024, RoboSense achieved a total revenue of 727 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of approximately 121.0%; among which, the revenue of ADAS LiDAR products was approximately 610 million yuan, a significant increase of 314.6% compared with approximately 150 million yuan in the same period of 2023.

Along with the growth of revenue, RoboSense's gross profit margin is also improving. In the first half of this year, RoboSense achieved a gross profit of 98.6 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 670.3%, and the gross profit margin increased to 13.6%, an increase of nearly 10 percentage points; the adjusted net loss was about 200 million yuan, a year-on-year narrowing of 17%. Among them, the gross profit of ADAS laser radar was 68.2 million yuan, and the gross profit margin increased from a gross loss rate of 35.5% in the same period of 2023 to a gross profit margin of 11.2% in the first half of 2024.

RoboSense pointed out that as the company's ADAS lidar mass production scale continues to expand, it expects the overall gross profit margin to further improve in the second half of this year.

According to official data, in the first half of 2024, RoboSense's total sales of LiDARs reached about 243,400 units, a year-on-year increase of 415.7%, rapidly approaching last year's total sales. Among them, the sales of automotive LiDARs were about 234,500 units, a year-on-year growth rate of 487.7%.

Image source: RoboSense

Since the first mass production and delivery of automotive-grade LiDARs in 2021, as of June 30, 2024, RoboSense has sold a total of 583,500 LiDARs, of which 518,300 were automotive LiDARs.

Such performance is naturally inseparable from RoboSense’s unrivaled and huge “circle of friends”.

It is reported that as of June 30, 2024, RoboSense has received a total of 80 mass production orders from 22 vehicle manufacturers and Tier 1, and has achieved large-scale mass production for 29 models of 12 customers. In the first half of this year, RoboSense added 17 new mass production orders for models, and started large-scale mass production delivery for 5 new models. As of the end of July, RoboSense's new products have been designated by 5 customers including SAIC Zhiji and Xiaopeng Motors for multiple models, and the first designated project will achieve large-scale mass production in the first half of 2025. In the same month, RoboSense also added a designated customer of an overseas vehicle manufacturer ranked among the top ten in the world.

Standing at the key competitive node of today's smart cars, RoboSense is still consolidating its market position by developing new brands and new models, as well as deploying new products and new technologies.

At the cooperation level, some time ago, there were relevant media reports that Toyota is seeking to set up a wholly-owned Lexus factory in Shanghai to produce high-end electric vehicles. It is reported that Lexus' first model in China is a large pure electric SUV, which will be equipped with the Sagitar laser radar and is expected to be put into production in Shanghai in 2027. Prior to this, the Sagitar laser radar has been confirmed to be installed in two other Toyota models, bZ3C and Bozhi 3X. Relying on Toyota's global layout advantages and sales scale of tens of millions, it is expected to help Sagitar achieve a larger market share.

On August 8, BYD's first laser radar model and the first sedan of the e platform 3.0 Evo, the "2025 Seal", was officially launched, equipped with a laser radar from RoboSense. In addition, the second-generation AION V Aion Tyrannosaurus Rex and the new Zeekr 009 will also be launched in the second half of the year, and RoboSense will also be selected as the laser radar supplier.

In terms of products, there are several obvious trends in the intelligent driving market this year. One is the breakthrough in high-end intelligent driving, and the other is that the equal rights of intelligent driving have more obvious requirements for cost reduction.

In response to these trends, RoboSense launched a new ultra-long-range LiDAR product, M3, at the beginning of the year for L3+ intelligent driving pre-installation mass production. It is reported that this LiDAR adopts 940nm laser transceiver solution, can achieve 300m@10% ultra-long-range ranging capability, and has an angular resolution of 0.05°x0.05°.

On April 15, RoboSense released the new generation of medium and long-range laser radar MX on the M platform, claiming to lead the industry into the "thousand-yuan phone" era, mainly focusing on the 150,000 to 200,000 yuan market.

Image source: RoboSense

Behind these new products is the support of RoboSense's R&D strength. As of June 30 this year, RoboSense has applied for approximately 1,540 patents worldwide, of which 520 have been authorized. In terms of LiDAR platforms, more than 1,000 patent applications have been filed, of which approximately 420 have been authorized; in terms of chip technology and AI algorithms, the number of global patent applications is approximately 160 and 170 respectively.

In the field of vehicle-road-cloud integration, which continues to gain popularity this year, RoboSense has also made some arrangements.

It is reported that based on the V2X vehicle-road cooperative lidar solution, RoboSense has helped 7 national-level Internet of Vehicles demonstration zones, 13 national-level intelligent connected vehicle test zones, and the infrastructure of more than 50 cities or regions around the world to realize smart applications, and has been widely used in smart ports, smart highways, rail transit, industrial automation and other fields.

It is worth noting that in addition to the automotive market, RoboSense LiDAR has also served more than 2,400 customers in robotics and other fields, and applications in various scenarios are being implemented on a large scale.

Huawei ranked second and Hesai ranked third

In addition to RoboSense, the top three are also Huawei Technologies and Hesai.

Huawei mainly relies on its own production and sales of models such as Wenjie M7, Wenjie M9, Zhijie S7, Avita 11, and Avita 12. Tudatong, which ranks fourth, also mainly supplies the NIO brand.

For another listed leading company, Hesai Technology, this year is indeed full of challenges.

In particular, on January 31, the U.S. Department of Defense updated the list of "Chinese military companies" operating directly or indirectly in the United States in accordance with the statutory requirements of Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, adding 11 new Chinese companies, including Hesai Technology.

In May, Hesai Technology formally sued the U.S. Department of Defense, claiming that being included in the so-called "1260H List" by the U.S. Department of Defense caused the company's "reputation damage, a sharp drop in stock prices, and loss of business opportunities."

Recently, foreign media reported that the Pentagon has decided to remove Hesai Technology from the "blacklist" of Chinese military-related companies.

In response, Hesai said "We have no comment on this matter", but Hesai stressed that the US Department of Defense's decision to include Hesai in the list of "Chinese military-related companies" was wrong, unfair and unfounded. All of the company's lidar products are strictly limited to commercial and civilian use, and Hesai has no connection with the military of any country.

Despite the turbulent times, Hesai Technology still demonstrated impressive performance and development potential. On August 20, Hesai Technology announced its unaudited financial data for the second quarter of 2024. In this quarter, Hesai Technology achieved revenue of RMB 460 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%; the global total delivery volume of LiDAR was 86,526 units, a year-on-year increase of 66.1%; among them, the global delivery volume of ADAS products was 80,773 units, a year-on-year increase of 76.8%.

In the first half of 2024, Hesai's total laser radar delivery volume was 145,627 units, a year-on-year increase of 67.5%; among them, the global total delivery volume of ADAS products was 133,235 units, a year-on-year increase of 80.3%. As of the second quarter of 2024, Hesai has reached mass production cooperation with 19 domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers for more than 70 models.

At present, Ideal, Leapmotor and Xiaomi are the main customers of Hesai. In the first half of this year, Hesai added a number of mass-produced models such as Leapmotor C10, Leapmotor C11 and Xiaomi SU7. Among them, Xiaomi SU7 has emerged as a dark horse. According to Xiaomi's automotive plan, it strives to deliver 100,000 vehicles at the minimum this year and 120,000 vehicles at the maximum, which may greatly help Hesai's sales performance.