A US Department of Energy facility, the Idaho National Laboratory, is quietly investigating whether Chinese-made lidar sensors pose a security risk if they become widely used in American vehicles, according to sources familiar with the effort. The review, reportedly funded by one or more companies in the electric and autonomous vehicle sector, comes as pressure builds in Washington to restrict Chinese lidar on US roads, with several bills already being drafted by lawmakers concerned about espionage and potential "back doors" in the technology.

Major carmakers and mobility firms including Rivian, General Motors, Ford, Kodiak, Lucid Motors, Nuro and Uber said they were unaware of the review, while Nvidia, Zoox and Aurora declined to comment; the lab itself has refused to discuss the project publicly. Lidar, which uses laser pulses to map a vehicle's surroundings, is dominated by Chinese suppliers Hesai and RoboSense, neither of which responded to requests for comment. Industry figures such as Innoviz chief executive Omer Keilaf have flagged both supply-chain risks and cybersecurity concerns, including the theoretical possibility that Chinese-made sensors could be disabled en masse, while lawmakers including Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman John Moolenaar have pushed bills such as the Securing Infrastructure from Adversaries Act to curb the technology's use.