For years, the autonomous vehicle industry has wrestled with a basic question of perception: should robots rely on cameras, lidar, or a combination of both. Ouster, a San Francisco-based lidar maker, is now betting that the answer is a single device that does it all.

The company has unveiled Rev8, a new generation of sensors that capture high-resolution color imagery and precise three-dimensional depth data simultaneously. Ouster calls this “native color lidar,” and it is designed to replace the traditional pairing of a separate camera and lidar unit with one integrated system.

Chief executive Angus Pacala describes the technology as the culmination of a decade of work, arguing that it solves one of robotics’ most persistent headaches: fusing data from different sensors that see the world in different ways. Historically, engineers have had to painstakingly calibrate cameras and lidars so that software can align pixels with point clouds. Even then, the fusion is imperfect and fragile.

Rev8’s approach is to generate a single, pre-fused stream: a 3D colorized point cloud that can also be treated as a camera feed when needed. Under the hood, Ouster relies on its “digital lidar” architecture, using custom chips packed with single photon avalanche diode detectors. The same SPAD technology that measures distance is now being used to capture color, yielding what Pacala claims is camera-beating sensitivity, 48-bit color, and wide dynamic range.

Ouster worked with Fujifilm and image science firm DXOMARK to tune the imaging performance, positioning Rev8 not just as a better lidar, but as a credible camera replacement. The company says customers will be able to choose between using only the lidar data, only the image stream, or the combined output, depending on their software stack.

The flagship OS1 Max sensor, built on the Rev8 platform, targets long-range applications like robotaxis, autonomous trucks, and high-altitude drones. It can detect objects up to 500 meters away while shrinking the hardware footprint compared with previous long-range units.

Ouster’s push comes amid consolidation and intense competition in the lidar sector, as rivals race to add color and reduce cost. What sets Rev8 apart, Pacala argues, is that both imaging and ranging live on the same chip, cutting complexity for customers and opening the door to vehicles and robots that no longer need separate cameras at all.