Picasso is the centrepiece of Hesai’s latest technology push, with the Chinese lidar supplier calling it the world’s first 6D full-colour ultra-sensitive lidar ASIC platform.
At its 2026 Technology Open Day on April 17, the Chinese company used the reveal to show where it thinks lidar is heading next: beyond reading shapes and distances, and towards a fuller view of the road scene in one system.
The idea is fairly simple. Conventional lidar mainly captures geometry, such as position and depth.
Picasso adds RGB colour sensing and time-of-flight ranging at chip level, allowing it to generate colourised point clouds directly instead of relying on more complicated sensor fusion later.
Hesai said that should help autonomous systems identify things like lane markings, traffic lights and roadwork zones with more confidence. It also claims photon detection efficiency of more than 40%, which it said improves long-range detection, small-object recognition and low-light performance.
Hesai is tying that platform to its next-generation ETX lidar, which will be offered in 1,080, 2,160 and up to 4,320 channels. The company claims a maximum detection range of 600 metres, or 400 metres at 10% reflectivity, and said ETX is meant for Level 3 and above autonomous driving. Mass production is expected in the second half of 2026.
The company already has meaningful reach in the car business. Hesai said it has secured production design wins for more than 160 models across 40 automotive brands.
Separately, Hesai’s own published material said its lidar is already used by or secured with brands including Changan, Chery and Li Auto, alongside a wider list of Chinese and global OEMs.
There was more than automotive hardware on show, too. Hesai also previewed Kosmo, a new spatial-intelligence AI hardware platform, and outlined a fresh move into robotic actuation modules.
That suggests the company is aiming for a bigger role than just supplying lidar to cars. It wants a place in robotics and wider physical AI systems as well.
