House China hawks look to curb Transportation Department’s LiDAR purchases

The Department of Transportation would be barred from using taxpayer dollars through grants, loans or direct acquisitions to procure equipment that contains light sensing and ranging technologies made by China and other foreign adversaries under a new bill being introduced today.

The House China Select Committee’s chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., is leading the legislation alongside Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. and John Garamendi, D-Calif. The measure considers several countries deemed foreign adversaries to the U.S. but is tailored to likely address Chinese firms like Hesai and RoboSense, which manufacture light detection and ranging technologies, or LiDAR.

LiDAR — which can map terrain by rapidly bouncing light off of objects to image their shape and dimensions — is used in autonomous vehicles, geographic information systems and other distance measuring applications. Much of the technology’s global supply chain has been dominated by Chinese manufacturers, which has presented cybersecurity concerns for defense officials and China hawks.

Transportation has an extensive grant program that was bolstered by the Biden administration under a sweeping 2021 infrastructure law, aiming to allocate additional funds needed to modernize and procure equipment for roads, bridges and other everyday transportation needs. 

In this case, should the bill pass into law, the agency would be restricted from greenlighting acquisitions for equipment that contains foreign adversary-mode LiDAR components. Broadly, the bill would prohibit the agency from procuring, contracting with entities using or providing loans or grants to entities using LiDAR from “covered” companies.

Transportation would be barred from the acquisitions effective June 30, 2026, according to a press release seen by Nextgov/FCW.

These covered firms notably include any entity listed on the 1260H list — a Pentagon-led restriction list that inventories firms barred from doing business with American defense and intelligence agencies. Targeted companies under the proposed law also include any entity with foreign ownership ties to China, Iran, North Korea or Russia.

The Department of Defense in February added Hesai and other firms on the 1260H roster, following bipartisan concerns from the House China committee. Hesai responded by filing a lawsuit against the U.S. in federal district court on grounds that the accusations were false. 

In June, Nextgov/FCW first reported that the House panel was aiming to restrict adoption of potentially hostile LiDAR hardware. The committee, along with its cybersecurity partners, believes that such LiDAR technology poses risks to several critical U.S. infrastructure sectors, as compromised systems can reveal sensitive information about terrain and its technical design opens backdoors for cyberespionage.

“LiDAR is a core enabling technology for autonomy with dual use purposes for both military and commercial organizations. We have seen historically in other sectors that PRC does collect data with potential use for its own surveillance purposes — whether it is social media, eCommerce, or communications,” said Joe Saunders, founder and CEO of RunSafe Security, which offers a cybersecurity platform to clients in military, critical infrastructure and other areas. 

“We cannot cede our national security or technology competitiveness in this area, so I applaud the Committee in taking this legislation,” he said in a text message to Nextgov/FCW.

A representative for the Transportation Department did not return a request for comment.

Beijing has previously denied involvement in PRC equipment being used as a lever for espionage or sabotage. A Chinese embassy spokesperson on Thursday fired back against claims that Chinese-owned seaport equipment enabled operatives to covertly burrow into the networks of strategic U.S. port systems.