AEye – in Partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and VSI Labs – Recognized for State-of-the-Art Vehicle Monitoring Solution that Helps Agencies Better Track and Respond to Traffic Flow and Incidents

AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIDR), a global leader in adaptive, high-performance lidar solutions, today announced it has been awarded Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s (ITS America) Best of ITS Award for its Ultra-Long Range Automated Incident Detection (AID) project with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and VSI Labs. The three entities partnered to validate that AEye’s 4Sight™ M lidar can provide reliable detection, even in harsh Minnesota winter weather conditions, at 800 meter range – performance that exceeds existing AID application expectations and pushes the baseline standard of ITS safety.

“Transportation technologies that detect incidents on highways can help reduce response and clearing times and road congestion, but have clear limitations,” said Tara Olds, Director of Connected and Automated Vehicles at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “It’s important for us to continually advance our technology tools in order to improve roadway safety, and AEye’s lidar is an example of how they are pushing the industry, even in the most challenging weather conditions.”

For the project, AEye partnered with MnROAD, the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s cold-weather pavement testing facility, and VSI Labs, to test AEye 4Sight M lidar sensors on Interstate 94. While MnDOT currently uses cameras to obtain analytics on the flow of traffic on this corridor, the 4Sight M lidar sensor offers greater precision when it comes to speeds, lane positioning, number of axles, and even load profiles. In addition, AEye’s AID solution provides superior performance in poor weather, and is able to detect incidents at distances up to one kilometer.

“The testing shows that AEye’s 4Sight M lidar offers longer range detection and greater accuracy compared to cameras, radars, or other roadway monitoring solutions,” said Akram Benmbarek, AEye’s VP of Strategic Initiatives. “With improved analytics and intelligence derived from this lidar data, agencies like MnDOT can better track and respond to traffic flow and incidents. We’re honored to be recognized by ITS America, and to play a part in helping municipalities reduce congestion, prevent accidents, and realize cost savings.”

“VSI Labs was delighted to support this project,” said Phil Magney, Founder and President of VSI Labs. “Being based in Minnesota, we have a particular interest in helping agencies like MnDOT deploy new solutions that improve the performance and safety of the transportation network.”

AEye’s 4Sight M is a high-resolution, ultra-long range lidar sensor, which enables increased coverage with fewer sensors, lowering the cost of materials, installation, and maintenance over the lifespan of the system, while improving data collection quality and reliability. It enables traffic managers and emergency vehicles to respond quickly to a collision and drivers to travel more safely by warning them of hazardous conditions on the road that may not be immediately visible.

AEye’s lidar sensor leverages AEye’s 4Sight™ Intelligent Sensing Platform to better locate, identify, classify, and track objects. This allows for improved data collection speed and quality, ensuring that more accurate information is used to drive decisions and improve highway safety, as well as reduce traffic congestion and maintenance costs. AEye’s all-in-one solution comes complete with a library of optimized high-resolution scan patterns to tackle the unique requirements of AID applications.

ITS America is the country’s leading organization to advance transportation technology. Its Best of ITS awards recognize innovative projects which best advance ITS to benefit communities.

About AEye

AEye’s unique software-defined lidar solution enables advanced driver-assistance, vehicle autonomy, smart infrastructure, logistics, and off-highway 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, Japan, 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 award given to AEye by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the use of AEye’s products as part of automated traffic systems, including for highway incident detection, among others, the potential use of AEye’s products as part of governmental investments in transportation infrastructure, and the benefits and features of AEye’s products, as well as the use of lidar generally, 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 the validation of AEye’s 4Sight™ M lidar may not hold in all weather conditions, at an 800 meter or shorter range, to the extent anticipated, or at all; (ii) the risks that AEye’s 4Sight M lidar may not exceed the performance metrics of existing AID application expectations, or that such expectations may not be standardized across the industry and be different than currently understood; (iii) the risks that AEye’s lidar may not be able to sufficiently push the industry to achieve market acceptance to the extent anticipated, or at all; (iv) the risks that the 4Sight M lidar sensor may not provide sufficiently greater precision with respect to speed, lane positioning, number of axles, or load profiles, as opposed to competing technologies to the extent anticipated, or at all; (v) the risks that the 4Sight M lidar sensor, as part of AEye’s AID solution, may not provide sufficiently superior performance in poor weather, or consistently be able to detect incidents up to one kilometer to the extent anticipated, or at all; (vi) the risks that the testing conducted failed to accurately demonstrate that AEye’s 4Sight M lidar offers sufficiently longer range detection or greater accuracy as compared to cameras, radars, or other roadway monitoring solutions to the extent anticipated, or at all; (vii) the risks that the AEye lidar solution may not be able to better track and respond to traffic flows and incidents to the extent anticipated, or at all; (viii) the risks that the AEye 4Sight M lidar may not sufficiently enable increased coverage with fewer sensors, nor sufficiently lower the costs of materials, installation, infrastructure, and maintenance over the lifespan of the system to the extent anticipated, or at all; (ix) the risks that the AEye 4Sight M lidar may not improve data collection quality and reliability to the extent anticipated, or at all; (x) the risks that AEye’s 4Sight M may not enable traffic managers and emergency vehicles to respond more quickly to a collision or allow drivers to travel more safely to the extent anticipated, or at all; (xi) the risks that AEye’s lidar sensor may not be able to better locate identify, classify, and track objects to the extent anticipated, or at all; (xii) the risks that improved data collection speed and quality may not occur to the extent anticipated, or at all, therefore not ensuring more accurate information to drive decisions, improve highway safety, reduce traffic congestion, and reduce maintenance costs to the extent anticipated, or at all; (xiii) the risks that the AEye solution’s library of optimized high-resolution scan patters will be sufficient to tackle the unique requirements of AID applications to the extent anticipated, or at all; (xiv) the risks that governmental entities will not invest in physical and digital infrastructure at the rate anticipated, or at all; (xv) the risks that transportation infrastructure in the future may be built on technologies other than lidar; (xvi) the risks that lidar adoption occurs slower than anticipated or fails to occur at all; (xvii) the risks that AEye’s products will not meet the diverse range of performance and functional requirements of target markets and customers; (xviii) the risks that AEye’s products will not function as anticipated by AEye, or by target markets and customers; (xix) 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; (xx) 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; (xxi) 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; (xxii) the risks that AEye is unable to adequately implement its business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; and (xxiii) the risks of 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 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 AEye or that will be filed by AEye 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.

Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements; AEye assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. AEye gives no assurance that AEye will achieve any of its expectations.

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