Chinese State Automaker Selects Arbe and Hirain's Advanced Radar for Level 4 Autonomous Program

TEL AVIV, Israel – December 29, 2025 – In a significant move toward the commercialization of highly automated driving, a major China-based state-owned automaker has officially selected a perception radar system developed by Israeli tech firm Arbe Robotics and Chinese Tier-1 supplier Hirain Technologies for its upcoming Level 4 (L4) autonomous vehicle program. The deal, announced today, marks a critical validation for ultra-high-resolution radar technology in the quest to build vehicles that can operate without human intervention under specific conditions.

The collaboration will see Hirain's LRR610 Radar, which is powered by Arbe's advanced chipset, installed as the primary front-facing sensor on a new line of L4 vehicles. The start of production (SOP) is slated for December 2026, with the automaker expecting to roll out thousands of these advanced vehicles to the Chinese market throughout 2027. This timeline signals a decisive shift from research and development phases to tangible, large-scale deployment.

Redefining Perception for True Autonomy

The selection underscores the immense technical challenges of achieving Level 4 autonomy, where a vehicle can handle all driving functions within a defined operational design domain (ODD), such as a specific city or highway network, without requiring a human driver to take over. To operate safely, these vehicles require a sensor suite that provides a rich, accurate, and reliable understanding of the surrounding environment, regardless of weather or lighting conditions.

Arbe's technology aims to address this need by leading what it calls a "radar revolution." Traditional automotive radars, while dependable in all weather, have historically lacked the resolution to create a detailed environmental picture. They excel at detecting the presence and speed of large objects like other cars but struggle to differentiate smaller objects or classify them with precision. This is where Arbe's solution, integrated into Hirain's system, makes a difference.

The proprietary chipset features an industry-leading 48 receiving and 48 transmitting channel array. This dense array, combined with a dedicated processing chip, generates a high-resolution, four-dimensional image of the environment—capturing range, azimuth, elevation, and Doppler (velocity). This allows the system to not only detect objects but also to distinguish between static and moving ones, classify vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, and map the drivable free space around the vehicle with high fidelity.

"Level 4 autonomous vehicles require the highest standards on radar resolution, accuracy, and reliability," said Chengjian Fan, CTO of Hirain Technologies. "By leveraging Arbe's high-resolution radar chipset, we are able to deliver the highly detailed and accurate sensing capabilities required for complex urban environments and the long-range detection in high resolution needed for driving at high speed on the highway. In these scenarios, where traffic density, vulnerable road users, and edge cases are most common, our top priorities are safety, unmatched perception, and smooth, predictable vehicle behavior."

A Landmark Deal in a Critical Market

This partnership represents a significant strategic victory for Arbe, providing the Tel Aviv-based company with a major foothold in China, the world's largest and one of its most rapidly advancing automotive markets. The Chinese government has made autonomous driving a national strategic priority, fostering a fiercely competitive and innovative ecosystem. Securing a production contract with a state-owned enterprise is a powerful endorsement of the technology's maturity and reliability.

The collaboration between Arbe and Hirain exemplifies the modern automotive supply chain. Arbe acts as the core technology provider, designing the specialized chipset that forms the brain of the radar. Hirain, a well-established Tier-1 supplier founded in 2003, then integrates this technology into a complete, automotive-grade radar unit—the LRR610—that can be supplied directly to the automaker for factory installation.

"China is a highly strategic market, one that is advancing rapidly toward autonomous driving. We are pleased to see this momentum and meaningful progress in the region," commented Kobi Marenko, CEO of Arbe. "Hirain is an exceptional partner, highly innovative and consistently quick to translate evolving market needs into advanced, customer-ready solutions."
The deal, which follows several years of joint development between the two companies, moves their partnership from a development phase to a large-scale commercial one, solidifying Arbe's revenue stream and market position.

The Sensor Suite and the Rise of Perception Radar

For years, the debate over the ideal sensor suite for autonomous vehicles has centered on the complementary strengths and weaknesses of cameras, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and radar. Cameras provide rich color and texture but are vulnerable to poor lighting and adverse weather. LiDAR creates precise 3D point clouds but can be challenged by fog, heavy rain, and snow, and is often the most expensive sensor.

Radar has always been the most robust sensor in terms of weather, but its low resolution was a limiting factor. Arbe's push into ultra-high-resolution 4D imaging radar is a direct attempt to close this gap, offering LiDAR-like object detection capabilities with the all-weather reliability and cost-effectiveness of radar. This makes it an increasingly attractive option for automakers looking to build scalable and commercially viable autonomous systems. By providing detailed perception in conditions where other sensors may fail, it adds a critical layer of redundancy and safety to the vehicle's perception stack.

To showcase these capabilities, Arbe plans to conduct live demonstrations of its automotive-grade radar technology at the upcoming CES 2026 trade show in Las Vegas, offering industry stakeholders a firsthand look at the system's performance. This public demonstration will be a key opportunity to build on the momentum from this major production announcement.