Hesai Group lidar enables outdoor autonomous robots, wins 1-million-unit European contract

Ouster announced surging customer momentum for its Rev8 OS1 Max native color digital lidar, which the company calls the world's first native color lidar, with payload integrators and drone OEMs across the aerial mapping market selecting the sensor for utility corridor inspection, infrastructure management, and defense applications. Powered by Ouster's L4 Max chip, the Rev8 OS1 Max pairs 256 channels of survey-grade 3D range data with native 48-bit color, reaching ±0.25 cm 1σ precision and ±1.25 cm accuracy, twice the precision and accuracy of the previous Rev7 generation, with a spot size up to 50% smaller than Rev7 and 200 meters of range at 10% reflectivity. The sensor carries IP68 and IP69K ingress protection, 100 G shock resistance, and an operating range of -40 °C to +85 °C, and is designed and developed in the U.S. to comply with the statutory supply chain security standards under §164 of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, with Build America, Buy America Act certified versions also offered. Flyability is evaluating Ouster's Rev8 OS0 lidar to unlock native color 3D mapping in hazardous and GPS-denied industrial environments, building on five years of joint innovation, while GeoCue is pairing its TrueView payloads with the Rev8 OS1 Max. Ouster is showcasing the Rev8 OS1 Max at INTERGEO in Munich from September 15-17 in Hall B5 at Booth B5I018.

Pony.ai unveiled a new Level 4 autonomous heavy-duty truck developed with GAC Commercial Vehicle at IAA TRANSPORTATION 2026 in Hannover, Germany. The vehicle is one model in Pony.ai's Gen-4 Robotruck lineup and is built on GAC Commercial Vehicle's T9 battery-electric heavy-duty truck platform, with volume production scheduled to begin later this year for deployment in long-haul freight, dedicated-route logistics and port transportation. It pairs Pony.ai's Gen-4 L4 autonomous trucking system with GAC Commercial Vehicle's fully redundant drive-by-wire chassis, and carries a fully automotive-grade autonomous driving kit with nine lidars, three millimeter-wave radars and 13 cameras for 360-degree sensing coverage. The bill-of-materials cost of that kit has been reduced by 70% versus the previous generation, while transportation costs per ton-kilometer are expected to fall by 30%, and Pony.ai's energy-efficiency algorithms combined with the T9's 0.4 Cd drag coefficient are expected to cut energy consumption by 10% compared with conventional trucks. The launch extends the companies' partnership from Robotaxi into Robotruck, following a strategic cooperation agreement signed on April 16 that led to vehicle testing and validation within five months, and Pony.ai plans to enter European and Middle Eastern markets over the next two years.

Ambarella CEO Fermi Wang said the fabless chipmaker is positioning its system-on-chip portfolio for broader edge AI adoption across enterprise security, consumer video, wearables, automotive and edge infrastructure, speaking at Citi's TMT Conference. Automotive accounts for about 30% of Ambarella's revenue and security remains its largest market, while wearables represented roughly 10% of revenue, according to figures cited by the conference moderator. Wang said the company's Cooper software development kit supports its 15 AI SoCs across a portfolio spanning 1 TOPS to 1,000 TOPS, and he named power efficiency as its primary competitive advantage, calling Qualcomm its largest competitor. Ambarella recorded record automotive revenue in its second quarter and has announced partnerships involving Aurora, Continental and Bosch, and Wang said a single consumer vehicle design win could represent several hundred million dollars of revenue. The company works exclusively with Samsung Foundry and expects its first 4-nanometer chip to enter production, and it is targeting 10% to 15% fiscal 2027 revenue growth, with memory availability and pricing the main uncertainty.