Ouster Ships First Digital Flash Series A-Sample, Achieving Major Milestone on Path to Automotive Readiness
Ouster shipped the first DF A-sample to its global automotive OEM partner, and plans to present A-samples to over thirty automotive OEMs, Tier 1s, and AV companies this year
Ouster, Inc. (NYSE: OUST) (“Ouster” or “the Company”), a leading provider of high-resolution digital lidar sensors, announced today the manufacture and shipment of the first Digital Flash (DF) series A-sample, delivering on a major milestone in its strategic development agreement with its global automotive OEM partner1. The first DF A-sample marks a significant achievement on the Company’s path to series production in 2025.
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Ouster Digital Flash Series lidar sensors (Graphic: Business Wire)
With zero moving parts, Ouster’s DF series is the first true solid-state flash lidar on the market. The DF A-sample achieved an 8x reduction in size in less than six months, resulting in a more compact sensor than its predecessor, while delivering market-leading performance on range, resolution, and field-of-view. Ouster Automotive plans to present its first A-sample to over 30 automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and autonomous vehicle companies in 2022. While the Company is in advanced negotiations for multiple series production programs, it expects the A-sample to significantly accelerate its commercial progress by allowing prospective customers and partners to validate the breakthrough form-factor and performance of the DF sensor.
“Ouster introduced the industry’s first high-performance solid-state flash lidar last fall, and produced an A-sample with significantly reduced size in just a few months,” said Mark Sandoval, VP of Automotive Products and Programs at Ouster. “The DF sensors are already an order of magnitude smaller than other automotive lidar products, and we have a clear roadmap to further reduce size in time for series production. This is critical for automotive companies which are looking for sensors with best-in-class reliability that can meet small form-factor requirements for sleek vehicle integrations.”
The DF series is a suite of short, mid, and long-range solid-state sensors for high-volume automotive series production vehicles. With absolutely no moving parts, the DF series is built for best-in-class reliability, durability, and affordability to meet automaker requirements for ADAS and automated driving while seamlessly integrating into the vehicle body. We expect the DF series will be available for integration in vehicles with production starting as soon as 2025.
“OEMs no longer have to compromise on price, performance, and size now that Ouster Automotive can deliver the true solid-state flash sensor they’ve been waiting for. Our strategic OEM partner as well as a number of automotive companies were anticipating our first A-sample to move into the next stage of negotiations,” said Iain Levy, VP of Automotive at Ouster. “As such, we expect the DF A-sample to meaningfully accelerate our pipeline of commercial opportunities for series production programs and strategic collaborations.”
About Ouster
Ouster (NYSE: OUST) is building a safer and more sustainable future through its high-resolution digital lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, smart infrastructure, and robotics industries. Ouster’s sensors offer an excellent combination of price and performance with the flexibility to span hundreds of use-cases and enable revolutionary autonomy across industries. With a global team and high-volume manufacturing, Ouster supports approximately 600 customers in over 50 countries. Ouster is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.ouster.com, or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding Ouster’s financial outlook, market positioning, and anticipated results. Forward-looking statements give Ouster’s current expectations and projections relating to its financial condition, competitive position, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and growth, potential revenue opportunity, and market penetration. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “can have,” “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including: Ouster’s limited operating history and history of losses; the negotiating power and product standards of its customers; fluctuations in its operating results; cancellation or postponement of contracts or unsuccessful implementations; the adoption of its products and the release of new products to accelerate the pipeline of commercial opportunities and the growth of the lidar market generally; its ability to grow its sales and marketing organization; substantial research and development costs needed to develop and commercialize new products; the competitive environment in which it operates; selection of our products for inclusion in target markets; its future capital needs; its ability to use tax attributes; its dependence on key third party suppliers, in particular Benchmark Electronics, Inc., and manufacturers; ability to maintain inventory and the risk of inventory write-downs; inaccurate forecasts of market growth; its ability to manage growth; the creditworthiness of our customers; risks related to acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks of product delivery problems or defects; costs associated with product warranties; its ability to keep its competitive edge and maintain competitive average selling prices or high sales volumes or reduce product costs; conditions in its customers industries; its ability to recruit and retain key personnel; its use of professional employer organizations; its ability to timely and adequately protect and enforce its intellectual property rights; its ability to effectively respond to evolving regulations and standards; risks related to operating as a public company; risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and other important factors discussed in the Company’s final prospectus and definitive proxy statement, dated February 12, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as updated by the risk factors disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 28, 2022 and in the section titled “Risk Factors” in its final prospectus dated April 8, 2022 and in other report the Company regularly files with or furnishes to the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates and beliefs as of the date of this press release. While Ouster may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, other than as required by law, it disclaims any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause its views to change.
1Original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
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