Ouster Gemini and BlueCity Software Adoption Accelerates in 2024

Rhea-AI Summary

Ouster (NASDAQ: OUST) reported significant growth in its smart infrastructure vertical during 2024, with software-attached bookings increasing by over 60% year-over-year. The company expects to expand its cumulative software deployments to more than 700 sites.

The Ouster Gemini 3D digital lidar perception platform will be adopted at over 300 sites globally, including a major commercial real estate deal for foot traffic monitoring. A leading global technology company renewed its annual Ouster Gemini license for over $1 million. Ouster BlueCity, the company's traffic management solution, is expected to expand to over 400 sites, including a $2 million contract in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Key developments include: launching a cloud portal for Ouster Gemini, establishing exclusive traffic technology partnerships across the U.S. and Canada, achieving System-Level NEMA TS2 Certification, and integrating with Genetec™ Security Center.

Positive

• 60% year-over-year increase in software-attached bookings
• $1 million annual license renewal from major technology company
• $2 million contract secured for Chattanooga traffic management
• Expansion to 700+ deployment sites
• 100% reduction in near-miss incidents in Chattanooga pilot
• Highest technical evaluation scores against 6 competitors for Utah deployment

Negative

• None.

Insights

Financial Analyst

Ouster's latest report signals strong commercial traction for their software-attached lidar solutions with 60% year-over-year growth in bookings. This expansion demonstrates a meaningful shift toward recurring revenue models that could significantly improve their financial profile over time.

The $1 million license renewal with a global tech company and $2 million contract in Chattanooga represent the company's largest software deals to date, highlighting their ability to secure high-value, recurring contracts. These wins validate both the technology's effectiveness and Ouster's go-to-market strategy.

What's particularly promising is the diversification across multiple verticals - transportation and logistics lead adoption, with growing traction in security and crowd analytics. The company's largest crowd analytics deal with a major commercial real estate company adds another revenue stream.

Product certification achievements (NEMA TS2) and strategic integrations (Genetec Security Center) remove key barriers to adoption, potentially accelerating sales cycles in the municipal and security sectors. The expanded partner network covering 20 states creates a more efficient sales channel for capturing the $19 billion market opportunity.

While the press release doesn't address overall profitability, this accelerated software adoption trajectory suggests improving margins as software typically carries substantially higher gross margins than hardware components. This shift could be transformative for Ouster's financial performance if they maintain momentum.

Technology Strategist

Ouster's expansion in the smart infrastructure space demonstrates the maturing application of lidar technology beyond autonomous vehicles. The 700+ site deployments represent real-world validation at scale, moving past the pilot phase that plagues many emerging technologies.

The Chattanooga implementation showcases the concrete value proposition of lidar in traffic management, with a 100% reduction in near-miss incidents on a high-risk block. This quantifiable safety improvement provides municipalities with a clear ROI justification, critical for government procurement decisions.

Technically, Ouster appears to be creating competitive differentiation, as evidenced by outscoring six alternative lidar systems in Utah's technical evaluation. Their product development strategy shows sophistication through the new cloud portal for Gemini, enabling centralized management of distributed sensors – essential for large-scale deployments.

The integration with Genetec Security Center represents a strategic technical move, allowing Ouster to leverage established security ecosystems rather than requiring customers to implement parallel systems. This interoperability reduces implementation friction and expands their addressable use cases.

The company appears to be executing a classic platform expansion strategy – starting with core hardware, adding software capabilities, then building an ecosystem of partners and integrations. This approach typically leads to more defensible market positions than hardware-only plays in the sensing space.

Increased bookings for software-attached sales by over 60% year-over-year

Expanded bookings for Ouster Gemini and BlueCity deployments to more than 700 sites

Introduced new software features to improve product capabilities and customer experience

Extended commercial reach with distribution and integration partnerships

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ouster, Inc. (Nasdaq: OUST) (“Ouster” or the “Company”), a leading provider of high-performance lidar sensors and solutions, today announced its expansive growth during 2024 in the smart infrastructure vertical across intelligent transportation systems, logistics, crowd analytics, and security. Ouster increased its software-attached bookings¹ by over 60% year-over-year, which is expected to increase the Company's cumulative software deployments to more than 700 sites. Demand for Ouster’s software solutions has been predominantly driven by transportation and logistics customers followed by increased adoption in security and crowd analytics.

Ouster Gemini and BlueCity digital lidar software solutions for smart infrastructure

Released two years ago, the Ouster Gemini 3D digital lidar perception platform will soon be adopted at over 300 sites around the world. This includes bookings with a major commercial real estate company to monitor foot traffic trends at two of its largest retail properties, which represents the Company’s largest deal to date for crowd analytics. At the beginning of 2025, a leading global technology company renewed its annual Ouster Gemini license for over $1 million dollars, which represents the Company’s largest software deal to date.

The adoption of Ouster BlueCity, the Company’s turnkey traffic management solution, is expected to expand to over 400 sites. Earlier this year, the Company announced that it was awarded a $2 million dollar contract to expand Ouster BlueCity in Chattanooga, Tennessee as part of the largest lidar-powered smart traffic network in the United States. The expansion follows a pilot that resulted in a 100% reduction in near-miss incidents on a high-risk city block. Last week, Ouster’s partner Econolite, announced that it was awarded a contract to deploy Ouster BlueCity in Utah. Notably, Ouster BlueCity received the highest scores in a technical evaluation against six alternative lidar detection system providers.

To capture more of the $19 billion market opportunity for smart infrastructure, Ouster expanded its addressable market with new software features and extended its commercial reach with new partnerships. Specifically, the Company:

• Developed a cloud portal for Ouster Gemini, enabling users to seamlessly configure, manage, and view all of their lidar deployments real-time data and analytics in a unified interface through a secure web-based browser.
• Brought on exclusive traffic technology partners covering nearly 20 states across the U.S. and Canada to fast-track sales of Ouster BlueCity to states and municipalities.
• Achieved System-Level NEMA TS2 Certification to further accelerate Ouster BlueCity’s adoption as a detection system for traffic actuation in cities across North America.
• Integrated with Genetec™ Security Center, a leading security management platform, enabling customers to fuse lidar and video surveillance into a single interface for seamless operations.

“After increasing software-attached bookings over 60%, developing new software features, extending our commercial reach, and expanding our addressable market, I expect to see further adoption of digital lidar solutions within the multibillion dollar market for smart infrastructure in 2025,” said Ouster CEO Angus Pacala. “We see substantial promise in this market and have a dedicated sales effort for this vertical to expand our go-to-market footprint across the Americas, EMEA and APAC.”

About Ouster

Ouster (Nasdaq: OUST) is a leading global provider of high-resolution scanning and solid-state lidar sensors and software solutions for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries. Ouster is on a mission to build a safer and more sustainable future by offering affordable, high-performance sensors that drive mass adoption across a wide variety of applications. Ouster is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information about our products, visit www.ouster.com, contact our sales team, or connect with us on X or LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations of management that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates and expectations will be achieved. Words such as “expect,” “will”, “may,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “can,” “could,” “offer,” “estimate,” “possible,” “potential,” “pursue,” “demonstrate,” and the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. All statements, other than historical facts, including statements regarding the benefits of Ouster’s software offerings and software-attached offerings, the total addressable market for Ouster’s products and offerings, impacts on other revenue streams, industry and business trends, Ouster’s business objectives and plans, market growth, and Ouster’s competitive position, all constitute forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including, but not limited to, the possibility of cancellation or postponement of contracts or unsuccessful implementations; risks related to the adoption of its products and the growth of the lidar market generally, inaccurate forecasts of market growth; Ouster’s ability to respond to evolving regulations and standards; and other important risk factors discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as updated by the Company’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and as may be further updated from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully and in the totality of the circumstances when evaluating these forward-looking statements, and not to place undue reliance on any of them. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s reasonable 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, it disclaims any obligation to do so, other than as may be required by law, even if subsequent events cause its views to change.

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1 Ouster defines software-attached bookings as a sale of either the Ouster Gemini perception platform or Ouster BlueCity traffic management solution along with sensors and associated accessories and services.

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250320969952/en/

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Source: Ouster, Inc.

FAQ

What was Ouster's (OUST) software booking growth in 2024?

Ouster increased its software-attached bookings by over 60% year-over-year in 2024.

How many sites will Ouster Gemini be deployed at globally?

The Ouster Gemini 3D digital lidar perception platform will be adopted at over 300 sites worldwide.

What was the value of Ouster's largest software deal in 2025?

A leading global technology company renewed its annual Ouster Gemini license for over $1 million, marking the company's largest software deal.

What results did Ouster BlueCity achieve in Chattanooga's pilot program?

The pilot resulted in a 100% reduction in near-miss incidents on a high-risk city block in Chattanooga.

How many sites is Ouster BlueCity expected to expand to?

Ouster BlueCity, the company's turnkey traffic management solution, is expected to expand to over 400 sites.