Chinese Tesla rival NIO invests in sensor firm to create 'eyes' for driverless cars

Innovusion, a startup specialising in LiDAR sensor technology for autonomous vehicles, has raised $30m after a funding round led by Chinese Tesla-rival Nio. Nio Capital, the investment arm of the Chinese firm, led the series A round alongside venture capital firms Eight Road Ventures and F-Prime Capital, giving the sensor firm the opportunity to boost its production capacities. The funding round also included seed-stage investors. Founded in 2016, the Los Altos, California-based company makes sensor systems using LiDAR, a light detection and ranging technology which involves shining a light on a surface to measure the distance from it. "LiDAR technology is critical to accelerating the adoption and deployment of autonomous vehicles," said Junwei Bao, co-founder of Innovusion.