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Yifan Li

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hesai Technology

Search every verified Yifan Li interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Yifan Li, co-founder and CEO of Hesai Technology, announced in January 2026 that the company had been selected by Nvidia as a lidar sensor partner for its Hyperion platform. In an interview, Li described the collaboration as having been in development for some time, comparing it to "secretly dating a supermodel" before the news became official. He stated that the partnership would benefit OEM customers seeking Nvidia-based autonomous driving solutions, and noted that Hesai's manufacturing operations remain primarily in China, with a Thailand factory expected to support global markets in the future. Li also discussed expanding Hesai's lidar technology beyond automotive applications, citing examples such as robotaxis, humanoid robots, and affordable autonomous lawnmowers in Europe, while emphasizing that the company uses standardized technology across different robotics sectors. In a 2017 TEDx talk, Li discussed the limitations of human driving and the potential of self-driving technology. He cited statistics on global car accident fatalities, attributing most to human error, and argued that machines equipped with sensors like lidar could see beyond human capabilities. Li acknowledged that autonomous systems would not be perfect, raising the question of how society should respond to a reduction in accidents from 100 to 20, and concluded that both technological advancement and public acceptance of machine error are key challenges for the future of autonomous vehicles.

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