SAIC Motor Corp, China’s largest automaker, said Thursday it plans to begin offering vehicles with automated driving in that market in 2022, in partnership with U.S. lidar maker Luminar Technologies.
Laser-based lidar sensors help detect objects ahead of and around the vehicle, and are a key component of many self-driving and automated systems being developed by automakers and suppliers.
California-based Luminar this month announced a deal with the self-driving software subsidiary of Volvo Cars, owned by China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, to offer a combination hardware-software system to other automakers.
Luminar, founded in 2012, is one of several U.S. lidar manufacturers in the past year to go public via reverse mergers with blank-check companies.
SAIC, which is partnered in China with General Motors and Volkswagen Group, plans to install Luminar’s lidar sensors and software next year on its new R brand vehicle line and said it expects to standardize the equipment eventually across all its vehicles in China.
GM and VW are developing automated-driving technology separately from SAIC — GM through its majority-owned Cruise subsidiary, VW in part with Argo AI.
SAIC is an investor in Chinese lidar startup RoboSense, as well as other tech startups in the United States and China that are working on various aspects of self-driving vehicles.
Initially, SAIC’s R line vehicles will have automated-driving capability on highways, as well as advanced driver-assistance features, the company said. The vehicles also will have the ability over time to upgrade their self-driving capability through over-the-air software updates, the company said.
Luminar earlier inked lidar development deals with Daimler’s truck group and Intel Corp.’s Mobileye. Luminar is also slated to supply lidar for Volvo’s first automated-driving cars in 2022.
