(Yicai Global) Feb. 9 -- RoboSense, a Chinese developer of the three-dimensional light direction and ranging sensors used in advanced driver assistance systems, has secured major orders from China’s Seres Group and Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. in the past week, consolidating Chinese companies’ leading position in the global lidar market.

RoboSense has become the first Chinese lidar firm to be included in Toyota’s supply chain and will equip several models of the Aichi-based auto giant with its RS-LiDAR-M series, the Shenzhen-based firm said on Feb. 6. And it is linking arms with Chongqing-based Seres to produce a smart car that will be mass produced by the end of this year, it said on Feb. 7.

The RS-Lidar-M series has already secured purchase orders for over 50 models from nearly 20 carmakers and total orders could exceed 10 million units, RoboSense added.

Chinese companies supply half of the world’s pre-installed laser radars, according to a report by international consulting firm Yole Intelligence released in August last year. Shanghai-based Hesai Technology ranks first in the world with 27 percent market share and RoboSense is in third place with 16 percent.

And the market is growing fast. Some 98,400 passenger cars were delivered pre-equipped with standard versions of laser radars in China in the first 11 months last year, according to the Gaogong Intelligent Automobile Research Institute. But this figure is likely to jump to between 400,000 and 500,000 units this year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor