Hesai Technology, a global leader in lidar technologies for autonomous mobility systems, ADAS and industrial robotics applications, announced the construction of a new 740,000 square foot state-of-the-art R&D center for manufacturing, named "Maxwell" after Scottish physicist James Maxwell's famous equations which form the foundation of electromagnetism, optics, electric and magnetic circuits.
The new cutting-edge facility includes the world's most advanced lidar testing lab and will utilize many smart industrial robots allowing for the automation of over 100 production processes with an automation rate of 90% and a 45 second cycle time per lidar unit. The new facility uses a proprietary smart cloud manufacturing execution system (MES) capable of precisely tracking the entire production chain and allows for any problem to be traced back to the source, precisely located and promptly controlled.
"Our new Maxwell facility is not a traditional manufacturing facility but an advanced R&D center where we design and build automated lidar production lines, which can then be easily replicated across our global network of manufacturing facilities," said David Li, Co-founder and CEO of Hesai. "With Hesai's commercial engine now in full swing, we expect to drive lidar adoption forward for everyone."
The news comes on the heels of Hesai winning a lidar design contract with a leading global OEM for an upcoming fully electric series production program. The company also recently surpassed 300,000 accumulative units delivered including a new high of 50,000 units in the month of December alone. To date Hesai automotive lidar have been selected by 15 leading OEMs and tier-1 suppliers, covering over 50 series production models and growing.