【Wen/Observer Net Liu Bai】

U.S. politicians who view China's technological development as a "nail" have once again raised their "hammer," this time targeting LiDAR.

Reuters reported on December 11 that Raju Krishnamurthy, a senior member of the notorious U.S. House of Representatives' China Committee and a Democrat from Illinois, has introduced a bill this week, urging the gradual phase-out of Chinese LiDAR sensors used in autonomous vehicles and critical infrastructure. He solemnly pointed out that in the event of a conflict, these sensors could be hacked by space-based hackers and disabled, thereby paralyzing large-scale systems across the United States within seconds.

The bill focuses on gradually phasing out Chinese-made LiDAR sensors. These sensors use lasers to help autonomous taxis and other autonomous vehicles obtain three-dimensional views of their surroundings, and can also be used for various scenarios such as automation of port quay cranes.

The bill will stipulate that new procurement of Chinese LiDARs will be banned after three years, but it will provide some exemptions and deferrals for research, cybersecurity research, and other fields. At the same time, it will set a five-year transition period for existing equipment used in critical infrastructure.

Although U.S. LiDAR companies like Ouster and Aeva Technologies are striving to win cooperation with automakers, China has begun to dominate this market. According to data from Yole Group in June, Chinese LiDAR companies accounted for 93% of the global passenger car LiDAR market and 89% of the overall LiDAR market.

October 29, 2025, 2025 Hannover Shanghai Industrial Joint Exhibition, Hesai Technology, LiDAR. IC Photo

Krishnamurthy stated in a statement: "The United States and our allies should lead in LiDAR innovation, rather than hand over control of this key technology to foreign adversaries, who would use this control to endanger the safety of Americans."

His "inspiration" comes from a recent security report. This report seriously claims that during a conflict, Chinese LiDAR equipment may pose a hacking risk to the United States, and space satellites could disable most of these sensors across the country within seconds.

Craig Singleton, a senior China researcher at the conservative think tank "Foundation for Defense of Democracy" in Washington and co-author of the hacker attack warning report, also claimed: "We must avoid a 'Huawei on wheels' moment."

"Chinese LiDAR has begun to be embedded in various American infrastructures - from autonomous vehicles to pipeline inspection systems, allowing (Chinese) suppliers to further scale up, which may lead to repeating the same strategic mistake we made with Huawei."

LiDAR is expected to play a key role in military autonomous vehicles. In early 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense added Hesai Technology, the world's largest automotive LiDAR manufacturer, to its so-called "military-related entity list."

Hesai Technology responded immediately, stating that the company does not sell products to any military forces of any country, and has no relation with any military forces. It expressed disappointment at being listed by the U.S. Department of Defense. Hesai also filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, but in July this year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case. Hesai then appealed.

China has repeatedly stated that it firmly opposes the U.S. generalizing the concept of national security, setting up various discriminatory lists, unjustly suppressing Chinese companies, and undermining normal Sino-U.S. economic and trade cooperation. The U.S. approach violates its own proclaimed principles of market competition and international economic and trade rules, undermines the confidence of foreign companies investing and operating in the U.S., harms the interests of U.S. companies and investors, and will ultimately backfire on itself.

In fact, the Western narrative of the "Chinese threat" has formed a near-reflexive discourse system. This "threat imagination" more exposes their psychological imbalance in technological competition.

At a time when China's electric vehicle industry is developing rapidly, such absurd and ridiculous "concerns" as Krishnamurthy's are not rare. A notable scene was former U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo during the Biden administration.

In March 2024, Raimondo strongly exaggerated a sensational scenario - if there were 3 million Chinese cars on U.S. roads, Beijing could turn them all off simultaneously.

Former Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson and current Deputy Foreign Minister Hua Chunying bluntly said: "If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail."

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7582779204375183898/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.