What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2026-03-02 compared with 2025-03-21 · 70 added, 55 removed, 279 unchanged (31% of the section changed)

is building the eyes of autonomy.

We are a leading global provider of lidar sensors and solutions for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries.

Ouster’s products include high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, analog lidar sensors, and software solutions.

is a leader in sensing and perception for Physical Artificial Intelligence (Physical AI).

Ouster enables machines to “Sense, Think, Act, and Learn” and independently execute tasks without human intervention.

Physical AI allows machines to move beyond fixed, preprogrammed behavior into adaptive, intelligent action by focusing on perception, understanding, and learning from the physical world.

As a pioneer in Physical AI, Ouster offers a unified sensing and perception platform that combines high-performance digital lidar, cameras, AI compute, sensor fusion and perception software, and cutting-edge AI models to our customers.

We anticipate that 3D vision technologies, coupled with artificial intelligence, will power autonomy that in turn will fundamentally disrupt business models across many existing industries and enable entirely new industries and capabilities.

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Our four target markets each have unique use cases for our lidar sensors:

• Automotive.

The automotive industry is shifting towards advanced/enhanced safety and autonomy features, in part powered by lidar.

We believe we are uniquely positioned to support this transformation.

We work with companies across the entire automotive ecosystem, from technology providers to direct automotive parts suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), to design and manufacture lidar sensors for these advanced vehicle systems.

• Industrial.

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This includes material handling vehicles at ports and warehouses, off-highway vehicles in mines and on farms, and manufacturing equipment in factories.

Our robotics customers are pioneering an automated future that can affect many aspects of our daily lives as they take on tasks that are redundant, cumbersome, expensive or dangerous for humans.

• Smart infrastructure.

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Security companies are also looking to improve intrusion detection and tracking by augmenting existing closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems with the spatial tracking capabilities of lidar.

Our robotics customers are pioneering an automated future that can affect many aspects of our daily lives as they take on tasks that are redundant, cumbersome, expensive or dangerous for humans.

• Automotive.

The automotive industry is shifting towards advanced/enhanced safety and autonomy features, in part powered by lidar.

We believe we are uniquely positioned to support this transformation.

We believe these markets present a significant growth opportunity for us.

We envision a future where our digital technology enables lidar to become universal, empowering 3D perception capabilities within robots, cars, trucks, and drones, as well as factories, warehouses, roads, sidewalks, public spaces, retail stores, stadiums, docks, and airport terminals.

We believe our patented digital approach to lidar and our ongoing development of perception, analytics, mapping, and localization software will better position us in this changing environment.

We envision a future where our technology that combines sensing, compute, applications and artificial intelligence will become universal for empowering 3D perception capabilities within robots, cars, trucks, and drones, as well as factories, warehouses, roads, sidewalks, public spaces, retail stores, stadiums, docks, and airport terminals.

We believe our patents and ongoing development of perception, analytics, mapping, and localization software will better position us in this evolutionary environment.

We believe the simplicity of our digital lidar design gives us meaningful cost advantages in manufacturing, supply chain, and production yields.

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Based on cost quotes for our products in mass production, we anticipate our manufacturing costs per unit will decrease as production volumes increase.

Our mission to make the physical world safer and more efficient is aligned with our focus on sustainability now and into the future.

We believe that our lidar technology is a key enabler of sustainable solutions, empowering our customers to achieve greater levels of automation, which have been shown to have the potential to significantly reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and help curb the effects of climate change.

Likewise, smart city initiatives powered by lidar can better manage traffic, reduce commute times, and further reduce emissions.

Ouster's mission is to make the physical world safer and more efficient.

As a leader in sensing and perception we bring Physical AI to life, with a foundational end-to-end sensing and perception platform and delivering intelligent digital lidar and camera solutions that improve quality of life in the physical world.

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Intellectual Property

We believe our success, competitive advantages, and growth prospects depend in part upon our ability to develop and protect our core technology and intellectual property.

Since our inception, we have heavily invested in our patent portfolio by pursuing comprehensive coverage of invention families, use cases, and international coverage.

Being at the forefront of innovation in the lidar market depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patents and other proprietary rights relating to our key technology, and our ability to successfully enforce these rights against third parties.

We currently have proprietary intellectual property for both our digital and analog products and solutions, including in our software, real-time 3D vision for autonomous systems, manufacturing processes and calibration methodology.

We have also filed patents and trademark applications in order to further secure these rights and strengthen our ability to defend against third parties who may infringe on our rights.

We also rely on trade secrets, design and manufacturing know-how, and continuing technological innovations to maintain and improve our competitive position.

As a result, we have built a portfolio of intellectual property, including issued patents and registered trademarks, copyrights, confidential technical information, and expertise in the development of lidar technology and software.

We believe our success, competitive advantages, and growth prospects depend in part upon our ability to develop and protect our core technology and intellectual property (“IP”).

Being at the forefront of innovation in the lidar market depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property rights relating to our digital and analog products and solutions, including our software, real-time 3D vision for autonomous systems, manufacturing processes, and calibration methodology.

The Company owns and controls various intellectual property rights, including patents, designs, copyrights, trademarks, trade names, trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property rights in the U.S.

and various foreign countries.

The Company regularly files applications to protect innovations arising from its research, development, design and marketing, and has accumulated a large portfolio of issued and registered intellectual property rights around the world.

The Company licenses certain patents and receives annual royalties.

We do not consider any single patent, trademark, or intellectual property right or a license for intellectual property right as solely or materially responsible for protecting the Company’s product offerings or business.

We protect our proprietary rights through agreements with our commercial partners, supply chain vendors, employees, and consultants, and by closely monitoring the developments and products in the industry.

and in addition to seeking patent protection covering inventions originating from us, we continually evaluate opportunities to acquire or in-license patents to the extent we believe such patents are useful or relevant to our business.

In addition to seeking intellectual property protection originating from us, we continually evaluate opportunities to acquire or in-license intellectual property (inclusive of patents) to the extent we believe such intellectual property are useful or relevant to our business.

By leveraging our deep knowledge of lidar technology, we have invented and patented an integrated, semiconductor-based lidar technology, which for our digital products consists of the following key features:

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Our Product Portfolio

Using an array of eye-safe lasers, our lidar solutions measure distances in the environment at the speed of light.

Unlike camera-based solutions, lidar solutions allow machines to see in 3D by providing precise distance measurements of surrounding objects.

Lidar also performs better than cameras in low light conditions and produces fewer errors.

Compared to radar, lidar provides better resolution, perceiving objects’ shapes for superior object detection and classification.

Ouster offers a unified platform of high-performance digital lidar, cameras, AI compute, sensor fusion and perception software, and cutting-edge AI models.

Using an array of eye-safe lasers, our lidar solutions provide exceptional depth accuracy and perform exceedingly well in dark and obscure conditions.

Cameras complement this by providing high resolution context, color, and texture, providing further data to interpret complex environments.

Compared to radar, lidar and cameras provide better resolution, perceiving objects’ shapes for superior object detection and classification.

Lidar systems are designed to detect pedestrians equally well during daytime and nighttime conditions because the systems provide self-illumination by means of laser beams.

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As a result, we currently offer the OS and Velodyne scanning sensors and are developing the DF solid-state flash sensors.

On February 4, 2026, Ouster acquired Stereolabs SAS (“Stereolabs”), a developer, manufacturer and seller of AI camera vision and perception solutions.

The acquisition expanded the Company's product portfolio, and is expected to further strengthen its software capabilities and accelerate customer development.

With this acquisition, Ouster now offers Physical AI's first unified sensing and perception platform, combining high-performance digital lidar, cameras, AI compute, sensor fusion and perception software, and cutting-edge AI models.

This acquisition provides Ouster the ability to deliver foundational end-to-end sensing and perception platform for Physical AI.

OS Product line

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The multi-sensor suite is a flexible platform that can be easily adapted to different form-factors and sensor configurations to provide varying ranges, fields of view, and vehicle design freedoms – all with a simple change in optics or housing.

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The solid-state DF series is designed to be highly manufacturable and to offer durability, reliability, and affordability.

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These scanning lidar products include the VLP-16, VLP-16 Lite, VLP-16 Hi-Res, VLP-32, and VLS-128, and are in the final stages of their product lifecycle.

We plan to stop manufacturing these products in 2025.

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We stopped manufacturing these products in 2025.

Ouster Gemini

Ouster Gemini is a perception platform designed for smart infrastructure deployments like security and crowd analytics, and is optimized exclusively for Ouster’s digital lidar sensors.

Ouster Gemini is a perception platform designed for smart infrastructure deployments like security, yard management, and crowd analytics, and is optimized exclusively for Ouster’s digital lidar sensors.

The Gemini platform consists of OS series lidar sensors, edge processor hardware, perception software, and cloud analytics.

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BlueCity is a Gemini-powered solution for traffic operations, planning, and safety.

BlueCity provides real-time data analytics and predictions, which can be used to improve traffic and crowd flow efficiency, improve urban planning, advance sustainability, and protect vulnerable road users in a wide range of weather and lighting conditions.

In addition to traffic signal actuation, BlueCity provides real-time data analytics and predictions, which can be used to improve traffic and crowd flow efficiency, improve urban planning, advance sustainability, and protect vulnerable road users in a wide range of weather and lighting conditions.

Improve flow efficiency .

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BlueCity provides a user dashboard with actionable insights such as number of near misses, pedestrian crossing time estimates, illegal turn detection, and red-light violations.

ZED Cameras and Sensing and Perception Platform

With the acquisition of Stereolabs, Ouster now offers ZED cameras and AI Compute.

ZED is a high-performance camera that provides 2D and 3D color data with ultra-low latency.

The ZED cameras leverage Stereolabs’ Neural Depth engine that delivers up to a 10x sensing price-to-performance advantage over traditional cameras.

These products have been ruggedized for harsh industrial conditions with a compact form factor that simplifies robotics integration.

The embedded AI compute hardware facilitates native, real-time sensor fusion at the edge.

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Product Roadmap And Development

We continue to invest in growing our digital lidar product portfolio and increasing the capabilities of our software solutions.

We continue to invest in growing our digital lidar, camera, and compute product portfolio and increasing the capabilities of our sensing and perception platform and our software solutions.

We currently expect that our future digital lidar product developments will be primarily driven by improvements to our semiconductors—the receiver SoC and VCSEL laser array— with little to no impact on the designs or architecture of our sensors.

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We continue to work to improve the performance and expand the capabilities of these platforms through our artificial intelligence perception software and application-specific integrations, analytics, and dashboards.

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Our Customers

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automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, one customer accounted for more than 10% of our revenue from product sales.

Our customers in the automotive industry fall into two categories:

customers developing various forms of self-driving technology for driverless mobility and freight applications, and customers developing consumer ADAS.

Both groups are generally engaged in the design, production, manufacture, operation, or after-market modification of automobiles, which includes consumer and commercial vehicles, commercial heavy trucks, and buses among other vehicles.

Automotive customers use lidar as a core component in ADAS and for autonomous driving.

We believe that our automotive customers value the high resolution, high reliability, and cost of our lidar technology.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, two customers accounted for more than 10% of our revenue.

Industrial Automation

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We believe that our industrial customers value the high resolution, range, small form factor, and high reliability of our digital lidar sensors.

Our customers in the robotics industry are generally engaged in the design, production, operation, or after-market modification of small mobile human-less vehicles, which includes wheeled robots, legged robots, and drones among other vehicles.

Our customers in the robotics market include both commercial entities and nonprofit entities, such as research institutions.

Our customers in the robotics market are installing lidar sensors for autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, and mapping in order to provide services such as last-mile delivery, street sweeping, and asset inspection.

We believe our robotics customers value the high resolution, precision, wide vertical field-of-view, and high reliability of our lidar sensors.

Smart Infrastructure

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Our lidar sensors and software solutions provide smart infrastructure customers the ability to detect, classify, and track people and vehicles through an easy to use software user interface, allowing them to interact with lidar data indirectly and in a task-relevant manner.

Our customers in the robotics market include both commercial entities and nonprofit entities, such as research institutions.

We believe our robotics customers value the high resolution, precision, wide vertical field-of-view, and high reliability of our lidar sensors.

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Our customers in the automotive industry fall into two categories:

customers developing various forms of self-driving technology for driverless mobility and freight applications, and customers developing consumer ADAS.

Automotive customers use lidar as a core component in ADAS and for autonomous driving.

We believe that our automotive customers value the high resolution, high reliability, and cost of our lidar technology.

Our Competitive Strengths

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The Sense acquisition and the Velodyne Merger have enabled us to acquire additional intellectual property, which we believe will continue to distinguish us in the lidar space.

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High performance at an affordable price

High performance at a competitive price

As we introduce future generations of our proprietary SoC, we expect to be able to offer improved resolution, range, precision, and reliability, and unlock new data types.

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We believe that the solid-state digital lidar technology in our DF sensors will meet these requirements and lead to production wins and growth in this segment.

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Highly reliable and rugged technology

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We believe that the digital lidar technology invented by our founders will continue to drive significant improvements in autonomous technology.

As the Company has developed, we have built a strong supporting team, adding leaders in sales, marketing, operations, engineering, manufacturing, legal, and finance.

As the Company has developed, we have built a strong and stable supporting team, with long-tenured leaders in sales, marketing, operations, engineering, manufacturing, legal and finance.

Our Growth Strategies

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We plan to leverage this dynamic to grow our sensor sales by steadily improving our product performance while consistently maintaining a competitive price point.

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We believe our software solutions for multiple end markets present a significant growth opportunity.

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By building a commercial organization with highly-skilled employees and efficient processes and systems, we believe we can improve our customer acquisition, accelerate existing customer growth, increase sales through distribution networks, and build valuable strategic partnerships.

With the acquisition of Stereolabs, we are expanding our product portfolio to featuring new camera vision solutions and AI compute.

Ouster is positioned to secure a greater share of the sensing and perception market, including new high-growth use cases such as humanoid robotics, industrial automation, and visual inspection.

Key elements of our growth strategy include:

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As development progresses, we will strive to build and maintain relationships with global OEMs and Tier 1s to further strengthen demand.

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Expand our distribution network

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In addition, we are increasingly cross-selling within accounts, accessing new projects and opportunities within accounts where we have a beachhead position and increasing the number of addressable opportunities.

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Pursue strategic transactions

We have explored and may continue to explore strategic acquisitions, mergers or other transactions as a means to improve our competitive position.

For example, in February 2023, we completed our merger of equals with Velodyne which helped us to strengthen our financial position, technology portfolio and software offering.

For example, in February 2023, we completed our merger of equals with Velodyne which helped us to strengthen our financial position, technology portfolio and software offering, and in February 2026, we completed our acquisition of Stereolabs, which is intended to help us broaden our Physical AI offerings by adding vision-based perceptions systems to our portfolio.

While we see significant and growing demand for our products today, we believe selective transactions can create more expansive use cases for our products, provide greater access to target markets, improve our operating efficiency, or accelerate our product roadmap.

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Although we believe our line of products and innovation support position us as a leader in the lidar market, we will continue to face competition from existing, established market competitors with greater resources and new companies developing lidar solutions.

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Sales And Marketing

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In addition, we have a robust social media presence and are investing in various digital marketing strategies and tools to further reach customers as well as build our brand.

From time to time, we sponsor universities and other non-profit organizations to increase awareness of our technology and showcase its capabilities.

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We also sponsor universities and other non-profit organizations to increase awareness of our technology and showcase its capabilities.

Research and Development

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Government Regulation

While the U.S.

has historically provided a positive legal landscape that allows safe testing and development of autonomous features, with nuances that vary from state to state, we are subject to the non-exhaustive list of regulations set forth below.

Our worldwide business activities are subject to the various laws, rules, and regulations of the United States as well as of foreign governments.

Compliance with laws, rules, and regulations has not had a material effect upon our competitive position but changes to laws, rules, and regulations, and enforcement of such, including but not limited to those pertaining to export controls, foreign exchange controls and cash repatriation restrictions, taxes, tariffs, IP ownership and infringement, cybersecurity, data privacy requirements, AI use and ethics, competition and antitrust, business acquisition, advertising, anti-corruption, climate change, environmental, health and safety requirements, employment, and product regulations, could impact our competitive position or otherwise have adverse impact on our business in subsequent periods (see Part I, Item 1A.

Risk Factors).

As a lidar technology company, we are subject to the Electronic Product Radiation Control Provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

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Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls.

export control laws and regulations and economic sanctions prohibit the shipment of certain products and services to countries, governments, and persons targeted by U.S.

Rising geopolitical tensions have led to new and/or increased compliance costs associated with export control laws and regulations and economic sanctions that impose licensing requirements or prohibition of the shipment of certain products to countries, governments, entities and persons.

Adherence to these requirements could adversely affect our business and financial results, including ability to sell or ship our inventory of products or develop replacement products not subject to export control regulations, effectively excluding us from certain countries or regions.

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Similarly, we are also subject to sourcing regulations such as the requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation 2017/821, that require us to carefully monitor our supply chain.

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We are subject to climate-related, sustainability and environmental laws, rules and regulations that are evolving and changing.

This is not an exhaustive list of laws, rules, and regulations.

Compliance with these laws, rules and regulations may require us to incur significant costs to comply, including obtaining permits, licenses, inspections of our facilities and products, and implementation of additional internal controls and additional oversight obligations.

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Human Capital

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To attract, motivate and retain a highly-skilled workforce throughout our organization, we are focused on facilitating a safe and inclusive work environment that leverages the capabilities of our employees and encourages diversity of thought.

In furtherance of these objectives, we provide Inclusion and Belonging training for our employees to promote a healthy and inclusive organizational culture.

In furtherance of these objectives, we provide training in various topics including anti-harassment, ethics and regulatory compliance for our employees to promote a healthy and inclusive organizational culture.

The Company is committed to the principles of equal employment and non-harassment.

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We offer what we consider attractive compensation and benefit packages.

This may include depending on location and eligibility, annual bonuses, paid time-off, 401(k) plan with a Company match (subject to the IRS annual limit), stock-based awards, employee stock purchase plan, health and wellness programs, and other benefits.

This may include depending on location and eligibility, paid time-off, 401(k) plan with a Company match (subject to the IRS annual limit), stock-based awards, employee stock purchase plan, health and wellness programs, and other benefits.

Our long-term equity compensation is intended to align management interests with those of our stockholders and to encourage the creation of long-term value.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business