SAN FRANCISCO, May 4, 2026, 07:03 PDT
- Ouster has rolled out its Rev8 OS lidar sensor family, touting native color data for 3D sensing, along with double the range and resolution compared to its previous generation.
- Arriving just one day ahead of Ouster’s first-quarter earnings, the move drops a new product marker for investors weighing if demand across robotics, industrial automation, and smart infrastructure is finally scaling up.
- Ouster jumped roughly 8% out of the gate, with shares most recently changing hands at $28.63 following the news.
Shares of Ouster Inc. jumped roughly 8% Monday, with the San Francisco-based lidar company introducing its Rev8 OS sensor family — a product line designed to capture both color and 3D depth data in a single unit. According to the company, orders are open now and shipping is expected to begin this quarter.
The launch is a pivotal moment for Ouster, which wants to move lidar—a laser sensor tech for mapping—from pilot-phase experiments into real-world roles like robots, smart roads, heavy equipment, and self-driving vehicles. Investors will get their next look at Ouster’s books after the market closes Tuesday, May 5. That puts the product debut right up against a crucial question: will the “physical AI” story still hold investor interest with new numbers looming? Ouster, Inc.
Ouster announced that Rev8 runs on its L4 and L4 Max silicon, and the lineup features the OS1 Max sensor—a flagship unit offering 200 meters of range at 10% reflectivity, stretching out to a 500-meter maximum detection distance. Reflectivity, which measures the amount of light bounced back to the sensor, matters because low-reflectivity objects register less easily.
In a company statement, Chief Executive Angus Pacala called Rev8 “the most advanced family of lidar sensors” Ouster has put out yet. According to Pacala, the new tech is designed to help customers shift “from prototype to commercial production at scale,” offering the mix of reliability and affordability demanded by real-world autonomy. Ouster, Inc.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Pacala described native color lidar as “the holy grail” for robotics, adding, “The goal is to obviate cameras.” Depending on what their perception teams require, he said, customers will have the choice: the lidar stream, a camera-style stream, or a pre-fused 3D colorized point cloud. TechCrunch
Ouster says a wide range of customers and tech firms have committed to using its Rev8 sensors—names like Google, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Liebherr, Epiroc, Field AI, Skydio, PlusAI and Seegrid all made the list. It’s not just about cars: these companies cover everything from robotics and drones to mining gear, trucks and smart infrastructure.
Ouster turned in a robust fourth quarter, with revenue hitting $62 million for the period ending Dec. 31—double last year’s mark. Roughly $21 million of that stemmed mostly from one-off royalties linked to long-term IP licenses. Product revenue reached $41 million, up 36%, and lidar sensor shipments topped 8,100 units.
Ouster posted $169 million in revenue for 2025, a 52% jump from the previous year, while trimming its GAAP net loss to $60 million. Looking ahead, the company sees first-quarter 2026 revenue landing between $45 million and $48 million. That range factors in roughly seven weeks of results from Stereolabs, its newly acquired camera and computer-vision outfit.
Competition hasn’t eased up. In its most recent annual report, Ouster names Aeva, Hesai, Innoviz, Luminar, MicroVision, and several others as rivals—and notes that some potential clients could end up building lidar tech themselves. Hesai rolled out a full-color lidar chip platform last month and announced that production for its upgraded ETX lidar line should kick off in the back half of 2026.
There’s a catch: customer intent doesn’t always translate into real orders right away. Ouster flagged the usual minefield—competition, sluggish uptake of lidar, possible quality problems, contracts falling through or getting pushed back, inventory headaches, and heavy reliance on suppliers such as Benchmark Electronics and Fabrinet. Throw in shifting tariffs or trade rules, and actual results can swing away from projections.
Investors get another day to trade the new product story—earnings are still ahead. The tougher part comes after the webcast: can Rev8 drive product revenue, this time without the one-off royalties that padded last quarter?
