AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Bob Brown: Right. I had alluded to the OEM engagements in general earlier. But specifically for the announcement, I think you’re referring to, we did have a press release out in October of last year. And for strategic reasons, we did agree with the trucking platform partner and delay disclosing their identity until a later date. So we don’t have an update on that today, but you can refer to that press release that came out in October.

Unidentified Analyst: Sounds good. And then my last question. So I may have missed it, but besides the impact of the manufacturing transitions in 1Q, could you provide any context for what the revenue run rate looks like for this year beyond 1Q?

Bob Brown: Yes. We think there’s an opportunity for modest growth this year. That won’t be easy from where we’re starting, right? It’s a slow start to the year as you see in terms of the guidance. But we feel like we’ve got the opportunity to generate some modest growth this year. So that’s what we’re going to be working towards on the top line.

Unidentified Analyst: Got it. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. One moment, please. Our next question comes from the line of John Roy of Water Tower Research. Your line is open.

John Roy: Hi, can you hear me okay? I’m hearing an echo.

Bob Brown: Yes, we can hear you, okay, John. No echo on our end.

John Roy: Great. So Matt, the signals that you’re seeing from the automotive industry, I wonder if you can give in your background, could you give us maybe a little more color and related to your experience as to how that might play out. And as a corollary to that, I’m also curious, in your new role, how are you going to engage with customers? Are you going to be really out there on the forefront, trying to make it rain. And what is your thinking there?

Matt Fisch: Yes, absolutely. Why don’t I take on the second part of the question first. Getting out and hearing firsthand what customers are saying, especially the various components of our partnership with Conti, first and foremost, for me already booking travel to make those arrangements. But especially given that we’re in this go-to-market phase right now and a little bit of my — or a lot of bit of my technical background weighing in, it’s super important to really understand what the friction points, the constraints and the problems that customers are trying to solve and bringing that perspective back into the company and translating that to a set of objectives for the team and priority and focus. That’s a key part of the game plan here.

Just as an example, now getting back to the first part of your question, recently worked for a Tier 1 provider in the automotive space called Gentherm. And we had a pretty deep engagement with General Motors that’s public now, bringing a new category of product into market with one of their new vehicles. So I’ve been on the front lines of that for the last three years and seeing the moving parts of what those signals are, if you will, that tell us, hi, the customer is really engaged with us in a very material and meaningful way, a leading indicator towards success on a Series production award. I just experienced that firsthand with a new category of product this last three years and my most recent assignment. So I’m definitely making those connections to what’s going on with AEye’s engagements with our customers.