A Duke Professor Says China Could Disable Self-Driving Cars Across America. Nvidia Is Using the Sensors Anyway.

The article argues that Chinese-made lidar sensors used in U.S. autonomous vehicles pose a national-security and cyber risk, citing a Duke professor’s demonstrations that lidar can be spoofed to hide real obstacles or create fake ones. NVIDIA is singled out for continuing to use Hesai lidar in its DRIVE Hyperion 10 reference architecture for Level 4 autonomy, despite Hesai being Pentagon-blacklisted. The piece says this could expose NVIDIA to supply-chain, regulatory, and reputational pressure if U.S. authorities move to restrict Chinese components in self-driving systems. It also notes potential winners from a mandated replacement wave, including Luminar and Innoviz, though both are financially weak. Overall, the news is negative for NVDA sentimentally in the near term because of security scrutiny, but the article does not indicate an immediate operational disruption or financial impact.