Lidar sensor manufacturer Ouster raises $42 million

Ouster, a San Francisco-based lidar startup that launched out of stealth in December 2017, today secured $42 million in funding, bringing its total raised to $140 million. Cofounder and CEO Angus Pacala says the fresh capital will be used to fund product development and support sales internationally. Lidar sensors are at the core of autonomous vehicle systems like those from Waymo, Uber, Aurora, and Cruise. These sensors measure the distance to objects by illuminating them with light and measuring the reflected pulses, and their use cases extend beyond the automotive sector. Lidar sensors are often tapped for obstacle detection and mapping in mining robots, atmospheric studies for space, forestry management, wind farm optimization, speed limit enforcement, and even video games.