Hesai and NVIDIA Forge New Safety Alliance to Bolster Trust in Autonomous Tech

PALO ALTO, CA – March 16, 2026 – In a significant move to standardize safety and accelerate the adoption of autonomous technology, lidar giant Hesai Technology announced it has joined the NVIDIA Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab. The collaboration will see the world's leading lidar manufacturer by revenue validate its sensor platforms within a rigorous, unified framework, tackling the critical challenges of functional safety, cybersecurity, and AI compliance head-on.

This partnership represents a pivotal moment for an industry at a crossroads. While the promise of self-driving cars and intelligent robotics has captivated the public imagination for years, widespread deployment has been hampered by persistent concerns over safety and reliability. By submitting its foundational sensor technology to the scrutiny of an accredited third-party lab, Hesai is signaling a shift from proprietary safety claims to a new era of verifiable, industry-wide standards.

"Autonomous systems will only achieve broad adoption if they meet the highest standards of safety and reliability," said David Li, Co‑Founder and CEO of Hesai Technology, in a statement. "As autonomous vehicles and intelligent machines move toward large‑scale deployment, safety becomes the defining requirement for the entire system."

The New Gold Standard for AI Safety

The NVIDIA Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab is not just another internal testing facility. It stands as the first inspection lab for AI-driven physical systems to be accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to the internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17020 standard. This accreditation provides a formal, impartial seal of approval for the lab's assessment processes, which are recognized in over 80 countries.

For companies like Hesai, participating in the Halos lab provides a streamlined pathway to demonstrate compliance with a complex web of safety requirements. The lab’s comprehensive approach unifies safety elements across the entire technology stack—from hardware and software components to the AI models that power them. This is particularly crucial for AI-based systems, whose learning-based nature presents verification challenges not fully addressed by traditional automotive safety standards.

By evaluating its lidar within this framework, Hesai can ensure its sensors—often the primary tool for hazard detection in critical driving scenarios—are not just high-performing but are also safely and securely integrated into the broader autonomous system architecture developed by NVIDIA.

From Market Leader to Standard-Bearer

Hesai's decision to join the Halos lab comes from a position of significant market strength. The company is the first in its sector to have shipped over two million lidar units, a milestone that underscores its deep entrenchment in the automotive supply chain. According to market research firm Yole Group, Hesai has been the top global automotive lidar supplier by revenue for three consecutive years, capturing a commanding 33% of the global market in 2024.

This market dominance, which includes design wins with 24 automotive OEMs for over 120 vehicle models, brings with it a profound responsibility to lead on safety. Long before this announcement, Hesai embedded safety into its engineering philosophy, pioneering what it calls the "Safety Triad"—an integrated approach to functional safety, Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF), and cybersecurity.

The company introduced the world's first lidar to achieve ISO 26262 ASIL B Functional Safety Product Certification and now holds the industry's largest portfolio of such certified products. Furthermore, Hesai is actively shaping future regulations as a group leader in the ISO working group responsible for developing international standards for automotive lidar, working alongside industry titans like Bosch, Denso, and Nissan.

A Partnership Forging the Future of Perception

The collaboration with the Halos lab is the latest evolution in a long-standing and deepening partnership between Hesai and NVIDIA. The relationship dates back to 2019, when Hesai's lidar was first integrated with NVIDIA's autonomous computing platforms to provide the high-precision 3D environmental data essential for developing self-driving systems.

More recently, Hesai was selected as a key lidar partner for the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10, a reference architecture designed to provide automakers a clear path to developing scalable, Level 4-ready autonomous fleets. This platform combines a full sensor suite with a powerful centralized compute system, and the inclusion of Hesai's lidar underscores the sensor's critical role in the platform's perception and safety case.

"Lidar is often the primary sensor responsible for detecting hazards in the most critical situations on the road," Li noted. "Joining the NVIDIA Halos ecosystem allows us to further strengthen the safety architecture required to bring trusted autonomous technology into everyday use."

This synergy between Hesai's advanced sensing hardware and NVIDIA's AI computing muscle is crucial. As autonomous systems become more complex, the tight integration and co-validation of hardware and software are essential to ensure robust, reliable performance in the unpredictable real world.

Winning the Broader Race for Trust

Ultimately, this partnership is about more than just technology; it's about building trust. Public perception remains one of the most significant barriers to the mass adoption of autonomous vehicles. Surveys consistently reveal widespread consumer anxiety about the safety and reliability of self-driving technology. At the same time, regulators in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are grappling with how to create frameworks that ensure public safety without stifling innovation.

Initiatives like the NVIDIA Halos lab and collaborations like this one directly address these concerns. By moving toward standardized, transparent, and independently verified safety metrics, the industry can begin to build a robust case for the safety of autonomous systems. This provides regulators with a clearer framework for oversight and gives the public a tangible reason to place their trust in the technology.

As the autonomous industry moves from research and development to real-world commercial deployment, the focus is shifting from pure performance to provable safety. The alliance between Hesai and NVIDIA is a clear indicator that for the future of mobility, verifiable trust is the most valuable commodity of all.