Lidar sensors are an essential part of autonomous vehicles (AVs). However, conventional approaches have been challenged by high costs and poor manufacturability. Incorporating VCSEL array light sources can significantly improve lidar cost competitiveness and scalability.

“Lumentum has been the global leader in VCSELs for consumer electronics. As the automotive industry transitions from the testing phase for AVs to mass volume production phase for ADAS applications, cost and manufacturability are the biggest challenges the industry faces,” said Dr David Li, co-founder and CEO of Hesai. “We are pleased to be collaborating with Lumentum on our hybrid solid-state lidar AT128 for ADAS applications, which contains an all-VCSEL-based design to achieve high-affordability, and automotive grade reliability and consistency requirements.”

“We are excited to leverage our leading-edge multi-junction VCSEL array capabilities and manufacturing scale in working with Hesai to help enable innovative, cost-effective, and high-volume lidar solutions,” said Lumentum president and CEO, Alan Lowe.

Over the past few years, more than a billion Lumentum VCSEL arrays have been deployed in mobile, consumer electronics, industrial, and other applications creating significant manufacturing economies of scale. At the same time, Lumentum’s advancements in VCSEL array technology have resulted in record-breaking peak optical power densities and efficiencies, making their VCSEL arrays suitable for high-performance ADAS and AV applications.