Robotaxi的未来，正取决于一场正在进行的感知硬件换代趋势。 2004-2007年的DARPA无人车挑战赛，是如今激动人心、轰轰烈烈的自动驾驶、汽车工业智能化源头。 赛场上叱咤风云的团队，以及从这些团队分化、受此启发的创业者，后续纷纷落地生根，开创了一个全新的行业——自动驾驶，它们的名字至今如雷贯 耳：Waymo、Apollo、小马智行、文远知行、Momenta…… 它们创造了Robotaxi这一全新物种，通过一代代的AI技术体系迭代，技术上愈发接近"全无人驾驶"这一终极目标，商业上也迅速走到大规模部署的转折 点。 谁能率先部署新一代高性能、高可靠、低成本的激光雷达，谁就能在未来的数据积累和运营效率上获得难以逾越的先发优势。 Robotaxi与激光雷达的"双生" DARPA无人车挑战赛前后一共举办过3届，其中2004年第一届受制于当时的软硬件，15支决赛圈队伍无一完赛，成绩最好的CMU，也仅跑了12公里左右 就撞车，不到赛段1/10。 惨败告终，但因为这场比赛，学界、车企首次合作解决无人驾驶问题，直接引发了这一轮关于自动驾驶的研究，从这个角度来说，这次比赛无疑又是成功 的。 2005年第二届挑战赛，斯坦福 ...

Group 1 - Tesla is firmly advancing a pure vision approach, while several domestic new cars, including Li Auto's i8, are opting for lidar technology, indicating a continued divergence in the perception strategies for assisted driving [2][3] - Li Auto officially launched its electric vehicle i8 on July 29, with a price range of 321,800 to 369,800 yuan, and it is expected to start deliveries on August 20. The i8 series is notable for being equipped with lidar as standard, aligning with the lidar perception strategy [2][4] - Li Auto's CEO, Li Xiang, emphasized the value of lidar in extreme lighting conditions, stating that lidar can identify objects from 200 meters away, which is crucial for active safety [4] Group 2 - The i8 series utilizes Hesai Technology's ATL lidar, which is also standard in Li Auto's Mega and L series models launched earlier this year. The ATL lidar is smaller and has a 55% reduction in power consumption compared to its predecessor, with a resolution improvement of 2.5 times [5] - In the first half of the year, Li Auto's lidar installation rate increased by 43.11%, ranking it among the top in the domestic passenger car market. Other companies like AITO and Xiaomi saw even higher growth rates of 65.57% and 500.06%, respectively [5] - While companies like Tesla and XPeng are committed to pure vision solutions, the lidar market is experiencing rapid growth, with the first half of the year seeing a 83.14% year-on-year increase in lidar installations in China's passenger car market, totaling 1,043,900 units [8] Group 3 - The lidar market is witnessing accelerated penetration, with Hesai Technology delivering its second-generation ATX lidar and achieving significant orders from major manufacturers. Additionally, another industry leader, Suteng Juchuang, announced the delivery of its 1 millionth lidar unit [8][9] - The increase in lidar delivery is supported by ongoing technological advancements and cost reductions. For instance, Suteng Juchuang's lidar products have seen a gross margin increase to 15.1% due to the use of self-developed SoC chips [9] - The price of Hesai's new ATX product has dropped to $200, making it accessible for vehicles priced at around 100,000 yuan, indicating a positive cycle of cost reduction and market penetration [9]

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the potential damage caused by automotive lidar systems to smartphone cameras, highlighting incidents where laser emissions have resulted in physical damage to camera lenses and sensors [1][4][17]. Group 1: Lidar Technology and Functionality - Automotive lidar systems emit laser pulses to measure distances and shapes of objects by analyzing the time and intensity of reflected signals [8]. - The precision of lidar is determined by the number of laser lines it can emit, with higher line counts resulting in greater accuracy [10]. - Typical lidar systems scan a horizontal field of 120° and a vertical field of 25° over distances of several hundred meters [10]. Group 2: Damage Mechanism - When lidar lasers hit a smartphone camera lens, they can penetrate through the lens's micro-lenses and damage components like the CMOS sensor, leading to various degrees of damage [12]. - The energy density required to damage a CMOS sensor varies with the wavelength of the laser, with 532nm and 1064nm lasers needing 28.95 mJ/cm² and 40.79 mJ/cm² respectively [13]. - Current automotive lidar systems typically operate at wavelengths of 905nm and 1550nm, with the latter requiring higher energy densities to cause damage [15]. Group 3: Safety and Standards - Lidar systems are designed to meet Class 1 safety standards for human eye safety, ensuring that single pulse energy is below 8mJ/cm² [15]. - The 1550nm wavelength lasers are less harmful to human eyes due to their absorption by water, which is present in the human body, thus reducing the risk of retinal damage [19][21]. - The 1550nm lidar systems can achieve detection ranges over 300 meters, surpassing the 200 meters typical for 905nm systems, albeit at the cost of potential damage to camera sensors [21]. Group 4: Industry Implications - The incidents of camera damage from lidar systems have raised concerns about the trade-offs between enhanced lidar performance and the safety of consumer electronics [23]. - Companies like NIO, which utilize advanced lidar technology, may need to address these issues to maintain consumer trust and product integrity [23].

Core Viewpoint - The article highlights the significant upgrade of the Li Auto L6789 model, particularly the standard inclusion of Hesai's ATL LiDAR across all variants, emphasizing its advanced features compared to the previous ATX model [1]. Group 1: Technical Specifications - The ATL LiDAR features a fourth-generation chip architecture with a dual-core MCU [2]. - Compared to the Hesai AT128, the ATL's size and weight have been reduced by 60% [2]. - The minimum exposed window height is 25 mm, consistent with the public version of ATX [2]. Group 2: Performance Enhancements - The ATL achieves a best angular resolution of 0.08° (H) × 0.1° (V), an improvement over the ATX's 0.1° × 0.1° [3]. - The higher horizontal resolution and increased point cloud density at the same operating frequency enhance performance [4]. - The ATL can activate optical zoom while driving at high speeds, allowing for a 30° field of view with a maximum range of 200 meters, effectively doubling the resolution [4]. Group 3: Safety Features - Li Auto has customized the ATL with intelligent zoom functionality, focusing on enhancing the active safety capabilities of the AD Pro and AD Max systems [4]. - The latest capabilities include AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) that can stop at 120 km/h in rainy night conditions and AES (Active Emergency Steering) that can navigate around two accident vehicles at 130 km/h in the dark [4]. - This upgrade aligns the active safety capabilities across the entire Li Auto lineup, from L6 Pro to MEGA Home [5].