Hesai Sues Seyond Over Patent Infringement, Case Accepted by Court

From January to August 2025, Hesai ranked second domestically with a 32.8% market share.

On October 28, lidar company Hesai Technology officially filed a lawsuit against Seyond for patent infringement. The case has been accepted by the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province.

This case involves Seyond’s new product, the Robin E1X, which was showcased at CES 2025 earlier this year, and Hesai Technology’s AT series products.

Public information shows that the AT series was launched by Hesai in 2021, entered mass production in 2022, and has now reached a shipment volume of one million units. Related patents were filed as early as 2017. Additionally, the Hesai ATX is currently the best-selling product in the lidar market and has secured designated collaborations with almost all leading domestic automakers.

The focus of the infringement dispute lies in the fact that Seyond had long adhered to a high-end route using 1550nm wavelength + 2D scanning, but the Robin E1X, released in early 2025, shifted to the 905nm wavelength + 1D scanning architecture predominantly used by Hesai.

Referring to a set of teardown images of the E1X and ATX exposed by the media “Future Auto Review,” the hardware similarity between the Robin E1X and the Hesai ATX is astonishing—the dimensions, exterior shape, and even the external ports are completely identical.

In terms of internal structure, aside from the mirror not adopting a triangular design, the internal mechanical structure and optical path design of the Seyond E1X also show a high degree of overlap with Hesai’s AT series.

Furthermore, the recent move of several employees from Hesai’s North America team, including a director-level staff member, to Seyond has raised suspicions about the improper use of technical information, which has also become a focal point in the discussion of this infringement case.

Industry analysts suggest that behind this shift lies competitive market pressure—Hesai has reduced lidar costs to under $200 through its technical route, while Seyond’s original 1550nm solution, due to the high cost of indium gallium arsenide materials, has struggled to break below the $500 price barrier.

According to data from Gasgoo Research Institute, from January to August 2025, Hesai ranked second domestically with a 32.8% market share, while Seyond held only 6.7%, dropping from its top global position in 2023 to fourth place, showing a trend of falling behind.

Currently, the lidar industry is shifting from a performance competition to a contest of cost and mass-production capability. If the infringement case is established, automakers that have partnered with Seyond for the Robin E1X series may also face risks of delivery delays.