While Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo are often cast as rivals in the race toward autonomous technology, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) partner Ouster, Inc. (NASDAQ:OUST) sees their growing investments through a different lens.
In an exclusive email interview with Benzinga, Ouster CEO and co-founder Angus Pacala said the two companies are not competitors to Ouster but “pioneers in the adoption of Physical AI,” whose efforts are helping move the broader industry forward.
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Tesla And Waymo Are Expanding the Physical AI Opportunity
The rapid advances made by Tesla and Waymo have fueled investor enthusiasm around autonomous driving and robotics, while also intensifying debate over which companies will ultimately dominate the space.
Pacala, however, says that framing misses the bigger picture.
“We do not see companies like Tesla and Waymo as competitors but pioneers in the adoption of Physical AI,” he told Benzinga. Instead of viewing autonomy as a zero-sum race, he said Ouster focuses on supplying the sensing and perception technology that enables a broad range of autonomous applications.
That strategy also explains the company’s close collaboration with Nvidia. Pacala called Nvidia “an incredible partner,” noting that Ouster’s sensing platform is certified on both Nvidia’s DRIVE autonomous vehicle platform and Jetson robotics platform while remaining technology-agnostic across the broader autonomy ecosystem.
Ouster Wants To Be The Platform Behind Physical AI
Rather than competing with companies building autonomous vehicles or robots, Ouster aims to become the sensing and perception partner behind them.
Pacala said more developers are looking for partners that can provide an integrated platform instead of forcing customers to assemble separate sensing technologies themselves.
“Increasingly we are seeing companies who are building their autonomy roadmaps seeking a partner who can give them the platform and tools to build Physical AI solutions without having to reinvent the entire sensing stack themselves,” he said.
That reflects a broader shift in Ouster’s positioning. The company increasingly describes its offering as a unified sensing and perception platform that combines digital lidar, cameras, AI compute and perception software rather than simply selling lidar hardware.
The Real Race Is Toward Reliable Deployment
Pacala says the long-term winners in Physical AI will not necessarily be those with the flashiest demonstrations, but those capable of deploying autonomous systems safely and reliably at scale.
“The opportunity for Ouster… is to make access to sensing and perception much more accessible to the broader ecosystem of Physical AI companies,” he said, adding that the industry “will ultimately be judged by what works in the real world, that it is reliable and safe, and that it can be deployed at scale.”
For investors, that offers a different way to think about the autonomy race. As more companies invest in autonomous vehicles, robotics and intelligent infrastructure, the opportunity may extend beyond the companies building end products to those supplying the technologies that help those systems operate safely and reliably in the real world.
Image via Shutterstock
