4Sight™ Flex Features a Compact, High-Performance Reference Design that Seamlessly Integrates into Vehicles – Enabling Critical Safety Features without Impacting OEM Designs

DUBLIN, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 9, 2023 — AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIDR), a global leader in adaptive, high-performance lidar solutions, today announced 4Sight™ Flex – its ultra-compact, high-performance reference design for automotive. 4Sight Flex delivers unparalleled performance in a small, energy-efficient, low-cost form factor, enabling the next wave of L2+, L3, and L4 autonomy and safety features that can be integrated in-cabin.

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AEye 4Sight Flex: a compact, high performance reference design that seamlessly integrates into vehicles. (Photo: Business Wire)

For more than 150 years, car brands have focused on the look, feel, and efficiency of their vehicles, with design as a key brand differentiator. AEye’s 4Sight Flex optimizes for various integration scenarios, including the windshield and roof, allowing OEMs to deliver maximum safety to customers while preserving the aesthetic appeal of their cars.

“We believe that performance and design both matter and that both are important to driving lidar adoption with OEMs,” said Matt Fisch, CEO of AEye. “Our customers and partners want options that go beyond yesterday’s large antennas and today’s sensors protruding outside the vehicle. With 4Sight Flex, AEye is delivering what the market demands – exceptional lidar performance together with the option for a more integrated design in the OEMs’ location of choice.”

Superior Behind-the-Windshield Performance

AEye’s next-generation 4Sight Flex reference design delivers superior behind-the-windshield performance and is believed to be the only 1550 nanometer (nm) high-performance lidar capable of in-cabin integration. It boasts a 120° horizontal (H) x 30° vertical (V) field of view, with ultra-high resolution of up to 0.05° x 0.05° and long-range detection of up to 275 meters at 10% reflectivity, all at approximately half the size and up to 40% lower power consumption compared to AEye’s first-generation design.

Low-Cost, Low-Risk Solution

4Sight Flex also offers what AEye believes to be the lowest technical risk solution at one of the lowest volume costs in the industry. As AEye scales production for automotive volumes, it anticipates an additional 10-20% component cost reduction compared to the current generation, making this design very cost-competitive in the industry.

4Sight Flex leverages proven IP and qualified vendors from AEye’s first-generation 4Sight automotive reference design. By maximizing the re-use of automotive qualified components, AEye reduces customer risk while producing significant cost savings as volumes ramp.

Software-Defined Lidar

AEye’s 4Sight Flex takes advantage of the 4Sight Intelligent Sensing Platform, allowing for highly programmable lidar performance that meets the performance requirements of all driving environments – highway, urban, and suburban. 4Sight Flex can also be reconfigured through software, allowing OEMs to push new capabilities to the lidar sensors via over-the-air updates. 4Sight Flex will be available in 2024.

To learn more about AEye’s safety solutions for the automotive market, visit AEye’s Lidar for Automotive page.

About AEye

AEye’s unique software-defined lidar solution enables advanced driver-assistance, vehicle autonomy, smart infrastructure, and logistics applications that save lives and propel the future of transportation and mobility. AEye’s 4Sight™ Intelligent Sensing Platform, with its adaptive sensor-based operating system, focuses on what matters most: delivering faster, more accurate, and reliable information. AEye’s 4Sight™ products, built on this platform, are ideal for dynamic applications which require precise measurement imaging to ensure safety and performance. AEye has a global presence through its offices in Germany, Korea, and the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are sometimes accompanied by words such as “believe,” “continue,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “predict,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends, or that are not statements of historical matters. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections, and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements included in this press release include statements about the benefits, features, and advantages of AEye’s new 4Sight Flex product, as well as the potential cost advantages, among others. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by an investor as a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are very difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from the assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of AEye. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not enable L2+, L3, and L4 autonomy to the extent anticipated, or at all; (ii) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not enable safety features that can be integrated in-cabin to the extent anticipated, or at all; (iii) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not enable OEMs to deliver maximum safety to customers while preserving the design of their cars, or seamlessly integrating into vehicles, to the extent anticipated, or at all; (iv) the risks that automotive OEMs and the markets such OEMs serve may not demand integrated designs for sensors to the extent anticipated, or at all; (v) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not deliver superior behind-the-windshield performance to the extent anticipated, or at all; (vi) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not now, or in the future, be the only 1550 nanometer (nm) high-performance lidar capable of in-cabin integration; (vii) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not offer the lowest technical risk solution at one of the lowest volume costs in the industry to the extent anticipated, or at all; (viii) the risks that AEye may not realize additional component cost reductions to the extent anticipated, or at all; (ix) the risks that AEye may not achieve a reduction in customer risk while producing significant cost savings as volumes ramp to the extent anticipated, or at all; (x) the risks that 4Sight Flex may not achieve the performance requirements of all driving environments to the extent anticipated, or at all; (xi) the risks that lidar adoption occurs slower than anticipated or fails to occur at all; (xii) the risks that AEye’s products may not meet the diverse range of performance and functional requirements of target markets and customers; (xiii) the risks that AEye’s products may not function as anticipated by AEye, or by target markets and customers; (xiv) the risks that AEye may not be in a position to adequately or timely address either the near- or long-term opportunities that may or may not exist in the evolving autonomous transportation industry; (xv) the risks that laws and regulations are adopted impacting the use of lidar that AEye is unable to comply with, in whole or in part; (xvi) the risks associated with changes in competitive and regulated industries in which AEye operates, variations in operating performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting AEye’s business; (xvii) the risks that AEye is unable to adequately implement its business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; and (xviii) the risks of economic downturns and a changing regulatory landscape in the highly competitive and evolving industry in which AEye operates. These risks and uncertainties may be amplified by global conflicts and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to cause significant economic uncertainty. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of the periodic report that AEye has most recently filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, and other documents filed by us or that will be filed by us from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.