Cepton Inc (CPTN) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to Ceptons' first quarter 2013 earnings call and business update. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Ceptons 2013 年第一季度財報電話會議和業務更新。 （操作員說明）此通話記錄於 2023 年 5 月 9 日，星期二。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Hull Xu, Chief Financial Officer. Hull, please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給首席財務官 Hull Xu。赫爾，請繼續。

Thank you, and welcome to Ceptons' first quarter 2023 earnings call and business update. With me today are Jun Pei, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; and Mitch Hourtienne, Senior Vice President of Business Development.

謝謝，歡迎來到 Ceptons 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議和業務更新。今天和我在一起的是聯合創始人兼首席執行官 Jun Pei；和業務發展高級副總裁 Mitch Hourtienne。

During the call, we may refer to our unaudited GAAP and non-GAAP measures in our earnings release. The non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations for non-GAAP measures are included in our earnings release.

在電話會議期間，我們可能會在我們的收益發布中參考我們未經審計的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 措施。非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為替代或優於根據 GAAP 編制的財務業績指標。非 GAAP 措施的對賬包含在我們的收益發布中。

I would like to remind everyone that comments made in this conference call may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operational and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectation and are subject to the Safe Harbor statements, relating to forward-looking statements contained in our earnings release and the slides that accompany this call.

我想提醒大家，在本次電話會議中發表的評論可能包括有關公司未來時期預期運營和財務業績的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明基於公司當前的預期，並受安全港聲明的約束，這些聲明與我們的收益發布中包含的前瞻性聲明和本次電話會議隨附的幻燈片有關。

Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors, including those discussed in the earnings release or during today's call, and those described in our filings with the US SEC. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements as a result of future events except as required by law.

由於許多風險、不確定性或其他因素，包括收益發布或今天電話會議中討論的那些，以及我們提交給美國證券交易委員會。除非法律要求，否則我們不承諾因未來事件而更新這些聲明。

As a quick reminder, this call is being recorded, and you can find the earnings release and slides that accompany this call as well as a Webcast replay for this call at investors.cepton.com. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jun.

快速提醒一下，本次電話會議正在錄音中，您可以在 investors.cepton.com 上找到本次電話會議的收益發布和幻燈片以及本次電話會議的網絡直播重播。現在我想把電話轉給 Jun。

Thank you, Hull, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining Cepton's first quarter 2023 earnings call. We will provide a business update and review our first quarter financial results with you. I will start with an update on our series production execution. On the product side, we continue to ship preproduction units to Koito throughout the quarter. While the exact date of vehicle production launch is for the OEM to decide, our lidar remains on track to receive final validation from our OEM customer for production in saleable vehicles.

謝謝你，赫爾，大家下午好。感謝您參加 Cepton 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。我們將提供業務更新並與您一起回顧我們的第一季度財務業績。我將從我們系列生產執行的更新開始。在產品方面，我們在整個季度繼續向 Koito 運送試生產單位。雖然車輛生產啟動的確切日期由 OEM 決定，但我們的激光雷達仍在按計劃接受 OEM 客戶的最終驗證，以生產可銷售的車輛。

Our products are being evaluated across multiple vehicle models under our existing production award. As a result of our continued performance OEM customer and the versatility of our flagship Vista-X90 lidar products are for vehicle integration, we expect to receive additional vehicle models in the next couple of months to expand the coverage of our existing series production award.

我們的產品正在根據我們現有的生產獎項在多種車型上進行評估。由於我們的 OEM 客戶的持續表現以及我們旗艦產品 Vista-X90 激光雷達產品的多功能性可用於車輛集成，我們預計在未來幾個月內將收到更多車型，以擴大我們現有系列產品的覆蓋範圍。

We're encouraged by the commitment to our technology from our OEM customer. This is reflective of our efforts and dedication to enabling lidar as a critical component of automotive safety. In addition to hardware, our embedded software allows us to meet stringent automotive OEM requirement, such as cybersecurity, over-the-air updates, and functional safety. It also allows us to deliver additional custom features we delivered for our OEM customers. These capabilities were developed by our in-house software teams, and it is a tremendous value add for our OEM customers.

OEM 客戶對我們技術的承諾讓我們深受鼓舞。這反映了我們為使激光雷達成為汽車安全的關鍵組成部分所做的努力和奉獻。除硬件外，我們的嵌入式軟件使我們能夠滿足嚴格的汽車 OEM 要求，例如網絡安全、無線更新和功能安全。它還允許我們提供我們為 OEM 客戶提供的其他自定義功能。這些功能由我們的內部軟件團隊開發，對我們的 OEM 客戶來說是一個巨大的附加值。

Software is subject to the same standard as hardware. And our OEM customer has some of the highest standards in the industry when it comes to the reliability and safe operation of their vehicles. We believe having the ability to deliver a combined hardware and software solution to our OEM customer under a series production environment, positions us beyond a simple lidar hardware provider. It actually positions us as a total lidar solution provider, and as a leader in driving market adoption to enable lidar for everyday vehicles.

軟件與硬件遵循相同的標準。在車輛的可靠性和安全運行方面，我們的 OEM 客戶擁有行業內的一些最高標準。我們相信，能夠在批量生產環境下為我們的 OEM 客戶提供組合的硬件和軟件解決方案，使我們超越了簡單的激光雷達硬件供應商。它實際上將我們定位為一個完整的激光雷達解決方案提供商，並作為推動市場採用的領導者，為日常車輛啟用激光雷達。

As our products near the final stages towards the production validation, we're also working on increasing production capacity at our contract manufacturers and tier-1 partner facilities. We have mentioned in previous quarters that we work closely with our tier-1 partner Koito to enable the future scale of production of our lidar products.

隨著我們的產品接近生產驗證的最後階段，我們還致力於提高合同製造商和一級合作夥伴設施的生產能力。我們在前幾個季度提到，我們與我們的一級合作夥伴 Koito 密切合作，以實現我們激光雷達產品未來的生產規模。

Our continued efforts in scaling production include securing raw materials at scale and implementing production processes in both hardware and software to ensure we can deliver consistent quality at volume. For example, in this past quarter, we were able to increase the throughput by five times were one of the critical manufacturing steps. And we feel confident in meeting production milestones as we move towards SOP.

我們在擴大生產方面的持續努力包括大規模確保原材料安全以及在硬件和軟件方面實施生產流程，以確保我們能夠批量提供一致的質量。例如，在上個季度，我們能夠將吞吐量提高五倍，這是關鍵的製造步驟之一。隨著我們朝著 SOP 邁進，我們對實現生產里程碑充滿信心。

Following the announcement of our Vista-X120 Plus product earlier this year at CES, we unveiled the Vista-X90 Plus this quarter. X90 Plus carries over the same slim form factor improvements to our current X90, the product that is launching with our lead OEM program. These improvements enhance our advantages in vehicle integration placed behind the windshield and unlocks the placement in other areas of the vehicles such as the headlamps and [face shield]. Our X90 product is a direct result of working closely with our lead OEM customer to drive lidar adoption across the majority of the OEM customer suite.

繼今年早些時候在 CES 上發布我們的 Vista-X120 Plus 產品後，我們在本季度推出了 Vista-X90 Plus。 X90 Plus 對我們當前的 X90 進行了相同的纖薄外形改進，該產品是通過我們的領先 OEM 計劃推出的。這些改進增強了我們在擋風玻璃後面的車輛集成方面的優勢，並解鎖了車輛其他區域的放置，例如前照燈和 [面罩]。我們的 X90 產品是與我們的主要 OEM 客戶密切合作以推動大多數 OEM 客戶套件採用激光雷達的直接結果。

Cepton is the first and only known lidar company to launch a high performance lidar in-passenger vehicles behind the windshield. It is not a trivial task, and it requires a huge competitive moat for the distant future. Our new X90 Plus will also feature our recently announced the point cloud process ASIC, the Komodo. Developed in-house, this new ASIC is designed to improve our point cloud quality, reduce power consumption, and at the same time, replace FPGA and other merchant silicon devices to drive cost savings.

Cepton 是第一家也是唯一一家在擋風玻璃後面推出高性能激光雷達的已知激光雷達公司。這不是一項微不足道的任務，在遙遠的未來需要一條巨大的競爭護城河。我們的新 X90 Plus 還將採用我們最近發布的點雲處理 ASIC，即 Komodo。這種內部開發的新型 ASIC 旨在提高我們的點雲質量、降低功耗，同時取代 FPGA 和其他商業矽設備以推動成本節約。

In the years ahead for production, where volume is high and on-time delivery is key, we are reducing reliance on the semiconductor supply chain with our own ASIC solutions. In addition, we expect to continue extending the technology leadership with our proprietary ASIC chipset. The accomplishments we have made to start out the year highlight our continued commitment and dedication to be allied our market leader. As our products mature, we continue to make improvements in embedded software and innovate at the chip level to solidify our technology leadership.

在未來幾年的生產中，產量高且準時交貨是關鍵，我們將通過我們自己的 ASIC 解決方案減少對半導體供應鏈的依賴。此外，我們希望通過我們專有的 ASIC 芯片組繼續擴大技術領先地位。我們在年初取得的成就突顯了我們為成為市場領導者而做出的持續承諾和奉獻。隨著我們產品的成熟，我們不斷改進嵌入式軟件並在芯片層面進行創新，以鞏固我們的技術領先地位。

Transitioning from product development phase to the production phase stresses the importance of maintaining Cepton's standard quality at the volume demanded by our OEM customers. There are distinct challenges in maintaining the same level of precision and reliability in every lidar unit, when the volume scales to tens and hundreds of thousands. Our investment towards production readiness will prove to be the key areas of differentiation in both lead time and cost.

從產品開發階段過渡到生產階段強調了在我們的 OEM 客戶要求的數量上保持 Cepton 標準質量的重要性。當體積擴展到數万和數十萬時，要在每個激光雷達單元中保持相同水平的精度和可靠性將面臨明顯的挑戰。我們對生產準備的投資將被證明是交貨時間和成本差異化的關鍵領域。

With that, I'll turn it over to Mitch for an update on our customer programs.

有了這個，我會把它交給米奇，了解我們客戶計劃的最新情況。

Thank you, Jun. I'm happy to announce we recently hired a new Director of Customer Programs, Luis Gonçalves, who joined us from General Motors. He brings over a decade of automotive experience from global OEMs such as GM and Honda. And Luis will support our [Detroit] OEM program. As Jun indicated, our existing lead OEM series production program is expected to expand in the coming quarter, at least three additional vehicle models. This is the result of joint collaboration efforts between Cepton, Koito, and General Motors in product maturity, customized software development, and vehicle integration.

謝謝你，Jun。我很高興地宣布，我們最近聘請了一位新的客戶項目總監 Luis Gonçalves，他從通用汽車加入我們。他帶來了來自通用汽車和本田等全球原始設備製造商超過十年的汽車經驗。路易斯將支持我們的 [底特律] OEM 計劃。正如 Jun 所指出的，我們現有的主要 OEM 系列生產計劃預計將在下一季度擴大，至少增加三款車型。這是 Cepton、Koito 和通用汽車在產品成熟度、定制軟件開發和車輛集成方面共同努力的結果。

Beyond our current OEM business, we received an RFQ in the past quarter that we believe to be the top automotive OEM opportunity in terms of program volume this year. Cepton already has a rich history with its automotive OEM, and as such with selected to respond to this RFQ directly as a tier-1 technology supplier. This is a recognition of our maturity as a lidar company, and leverages all of the collaboration history with Koito manufacturing.

除了我們目前的 OEM 業務外，我們在上個季度收到了一份 RFQ，我們認為這是今年計劃數量最大的汽車 OEM 機會。 Cepton 在其汽車 OEM 方面已有豐富的歷史，因此被選中作為一級技術供應商直接響應此 RFQ。這是對我們作為激光雷達公司成熟度的認可，並充分利用了與小糸製造的所有合作歷史。

More importantly, the decision to have Cepton respond directly as a tier-1 technology supplier is made by the OEM in this case. It is not a self-proclaimed aspiration to become a tier-1. We believe this is how the lidar industry will continue to evolve, building trust, winning series production programs, executing and launching and allowing the OEM to help guide final supply chains for the future.

更重要的是，讓Cepton作為一級技術供應商直接回應的決定是本案中OEM做出的。成為 tier-1 並不是自稱的願望。我們相信這就是激光雷達行業將繼續發展的方式，建立信任，贏得系列生產計劃，執行和啟動並允許 OEM 幫助指導未來的最終供應鏈。

In addition to this opportunity, as a result of General Motors' recent sensor suite announcement for their Ultra Cruise program, where Cepton lidar is placed behind the windshield, executives from a global top-three European OEM visited our headquarters last month. And we are now in an advanced RFI phase for their future passenger vehicles. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the coming calls

除了這個機會之外，由於通用汽車最近宣布了其 Ultra Cruise 計劃的傳感器套件，其中 Cepton 激光雷達被放置在擋風玻璃後面，來自全球前三大歐洲 OEM 的高管上個月訪問了我們的總部。我們現在正處於他們未來乘用車的高級 RFI 階段。我們期待在接下來的電話中與您分享更多信息

Onto near range lidar products. Cepton is one of very few lidar companies with an automotive grade near range lidar product, that has a very large vertical field of view suitable for trucking applications. Over the past quarter, we have made strong progress with multiple top trucking OEM customers. We have progressed to the RFQ phase with a global top-three trucking OEM for our long-range lidar product called Nova.

近距離激光雷達產品。 Cepton 是為數不多的擁有汽車級近距離激光雷達產品的激光雷達公司之一，該產品具有非常大的垂直視野，適合卡車運輸應用。在過去的一個季度中，我們與多家頂級卡車運輸 OEM 客戶取得了長足的進步。我們的遠程激光雷達產品 Nova 已與全球前三的卡車運輸原始設備製造商進入詢價階段。

Lastly, a word on the smart infrastructure segment. We started shipping units to our tolling customer, fulfilling the multimillion-dollar contract announced at the end of last year. While our NOVA product is suitable for trucking applications, it's also an ideal product for smart industrial applications, and we continue to ship our Nova sensors to support autonomous ground vehicle use cases.

最後，談談智能基礎設施領域。我們開始向我們的收費客戶運送設備，履行去年年底宣布的價值數百萬美元的合同。雖然我們的 NOVA 產品適用於卡車運輸應用，但它也是智能工業應用的理想產品，我們將繼續出貨 Nova 傳感器以支持自主地面車輛用例。

Now, I'll turn the call back over to Hull.

現在，我將把電話轉回赫爾。

Thank you, Mitch. Starting with our first quarter results. Total revenue for the quarter was $1.5 million, same as the prior year period and a slight decrease compared to our previous quarter. Product revenue was $1.2 million, a slight decrease compared to the prior year period, but a 27% increase compared to our previous quarter. We also have development revenue of $0.2 million based on the timing of completion of our second projects.

謝謝你，米奇。從我們的第一季度業績開始。本季度總收入為 150 萬美元，與去年同期相同，與上一季度相比略有下降。產品收入為 120 萬美元，與去年同期相比略有下降，但與上一季度相比增長了 27%。根據我們第二個項目的完成時間，我們還有 20 萬美元的開發收入。

While we are still early and achieving volume production for automotive programs, we have shipped a record number of lidar units per quarter and a record number of lidar units for automotive customers. We expect this trend to continue as we ramp production to fulfil purchase orders for our base series production program.

雖然我們還處於早期階段並實現了汽車項目的量產，但我們每季度出貨的激光雷達裝置數量和汽車客戶的激光雷達裝置數量都創下了紀錄。我們預計隨著我們提高產量以完成基本系列生產計劃的採購訂單，這種趨勢將繼續下去。

Gross margin was negative 5% for the quarter, primarily driven by revenue mix shift between automotive and smart infrastructure. As our sales volume shifts towards preproduction units and later production units for automotive, where ASP is slightly lower than that of smart infrastructure, we expect our gross margin to experience some pressure in the short term, until component volume pricing kicks in and fixed cost leverage can be realized as a result of increased volume

本季度毛利率為負 5%，這主要是由於汽車和智能基礎設施之間的收入組合轉變。隨著我們的銷售量轉向預生產單位和後期生產單位的汽車，平均售價略低於智能基礎設施，我們預計我們的毛利率在短期內會遇到一些壓力，直到組件批量定價開始和固定成本槓桿可以通過增加體積來實現

ASP on the Smart Infrastructure side is expected to remain at similar levels as that of last year. And development projects typically have higher margins, which should help with overall gross margin for the year. First quarter GAAP net loss was $14.7 million or $0.09 per share, basic and diluted. Non-GAAP net loss was $11.4 million, or $0.07 per share, basic and diluted. First quarter non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was negative $11.6 million.

智能基礎設施方面的平均售價預計將保持與去年相似的水平。開發項目通常具有更高的利潤率，這應該有助於提高全年的整體毛利率。第一季度 GAAP 淨虧損為 1470 萬美元或每股 0.09 美元，基本和稀釋。非 GAAP 淨虧損為 1140 萬美元，或每股 0.07 美元，基本和稀釋。第一季度非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 為負 1160 萬美元。

As of March 31, 2023, we had approximately $80 million in cash and short-term investments, and none of that is held at regional banks. As a reminder, our cash position increased from the closing of the $100 million preferred stock investment from Koito that closed in January this year. We look forward to seeing everyone at our annual meeting scheduled on May 18 at 9:00am Pacific time.

截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日，我們擁有大約 8000 萬美元的現金和短期投資，這些都不是在地區銀行持有的。提醒一下，我們的現金頭寸自今年 1 月完成 Koito 的 1 億美元優先股投資後有所增加。我們期待在太平洋時間 5 月 18 日上午 9 點舉行的年度會議上見到大家。

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over for questions.

有了這個，我想把電話轉過來提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Richard Shannon, Craig-Hallum.

理查德·香農，克雷格-哈勒姆。

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I have to apologize for getting on late here a number of calls aftermarket today. I got on late and I didn't hear anything about a change -- or any discussion on the guidance that you gave last quarter about revenues and OpEx, did that change, Hull?

嗨，大家好。感謝您提出我的問題。我不得不為今天在售後市場打了幾個電話遲到了而道歉。我遲到了，我沒有聽到任何關於變化的消息——或者關於你上個季度給出的關於收入和運營支出的指導的任何討論，這有變化嗎，赫爾？

No, no changed for the year.

不，今年沒有變化。

Okay, perfect. That's what I thought, just want to make sure here. I came in during, I think it was Mitch's commentary on some of these bullet points in the press release here that probably missed and some key detail here, but I guess the first bullet here about executing RFQ response. And I think I understand that this is unusual for a component supplier, it's really more for tier-1 here. I just want to make sure that I'm gathering all the importance of this. Maybe if you can talk about how long you've been engaged with this customer? Is that something rather new or have been working on for a while?

好的，完美。這就是我的想法，只是想在這裡確認一下。我進來的時候，我認為這是 Mitch 在此處的新聞稿中對其中一些要點的評論可能錯過了這裡的一些關鍵細節，但我猜這裡的第一個要點是關於執行 RFQ 響應。而且我想我明白這對於組件供應商來說是不尋常的，對於這裡的一級供應商來說更是如此。我只是想確保我正在收集這一切的重要性。也許您可以談談您與該客戶合作多久了？這是相當新的東西還是已經研究了一段時間？

Yes. Thanks, Richard. This is Mitch. So in case you missed my section, this is an RFQ that we've been prepping for a long time. I stated this -- Cepton already has a rich history with this automotive OEM. We were selected to respond directly as a tier-1 technology supplier, kind of validating our maturity as a lidar company. And we believe this to be the biggest open automotive opportunity this year to bid on.

是的。謝謝，理查德。這是米奇。因此，如果您錯過了我的部分，這是我們準備了很長時間的 RFQ。我是這麼說的——Cepton 與這家汽車原始設備製造商的合作歷史悠久。我們被選中作為一級技術供應商直接回應，這在某種程度上驗證了我們作為一家激光雷達公司的成熟度。我們相信這是今年最大的公開汽車競標機會。

Okay. So, assuming I think you said in the last call, we expected the one or more awards to be given this or I think within six months, I assume that this is one of those things. Is that right, Mitch1?

好的。因此，假設我認為你在上次電話會議中說過，我們預計將在本次或我認為在六個月內頒發一個或多個獎項，我認為這就是其中之一。是嗎，Mitch1？

That's correct, yeah.

這是正確的，是的。

Okay. Maybe just stepping back a bit here on the automotive side. Can you tell us where you sit in terms of how many RFIs and RFQs you're currently in process with?

好的。也許只是在汽車方面退後一步。您能否告訴我們您目前正在處理的 RFI 和 RFQ 的數量？

Yes, we're always in various stages of the RFI phase with most of the top-10 automotive OEMs. RFQs, we really only talk about or give dedicated airtime to them once they get to a critical milestone, like we are today with this top-10 OEM. But I would say, within the top 10, there's probably two or three RFQs open and five to seven RFIs open.

是的，我們始終處於 RFI 階段的不同階段，其中大多數是排名前 10 位的汽車原始設備製造商。詢價，我們真的只在他們達到關鍵里程碑時才談論或給他們專門的通話時間，就像我們今天與這個前 10 大 OEM 一樣。但我會說，在前 10 名中，可能有兩到三個 RFQ 開放，五到七個 RFI 開放。

Okay. That is fair enough. Maybe let's ask about the visibility with your primary, your first big automotive customer. I think you mentioned in the last call, you had six months of rolling visibility here. Wondering how if you can kind of update us on what that looks like today as, have you seen increases to that? Or just kind of characterize what the change has been since the last call?

好的。這很公平。也許讓我們詢問一下您的主要，您的第一個大汽車客戶的知名度。我想你在上次電話中提到，你在這裡有六個月的滾動可見性。想知道您是否可以向我們介紹一下今天的情況，您看到了嗎？或者只是描述自上次通話以來發生的變化？

Thanks, Richard. So, we do have over 10,000 units of purchase orders. So, that's plenty of visibility for us to execute on, which we are very focused on executing or n fulfilling those units. You'll see higher volume ramp towards the second half of this year as we work out the logistics with the suppliers and contract manufacturers as well with Koito.

謝謝，理查德。因此，我們確實有超過 10,000 份採購訂單。因此，這對我們執行來說有很多可見性，我們非常專注於執行或完成這些單元。隨著我們與供應商和合同製造商以及 Koito 一起解決物流問題，您將在今年下半年看到更高的銷量增長。

Okay. And with this visibility here set at over 10,000 units, I think, that's a number you may have used on the last call. Does this assume the same number of vehicles you're shipping into or has there been an increase in that as well?

好的。我認為這裡的可見性設置為超過 10,000 個單位，這是您可能在上次通話中使用過的數字。這是否假設您運送的車輛數量相同，或者是否也有所增加？

This assumes the same number of vehicles we're shipping into. The vehicles that are already planned to have started production in 2024 hasn't changed from our OEM customer. Mitch did mention that we have commitment from the OEMs to add additional vehicles, right now at least three into the overall program. And those vehicles are not expected to have SOP in 2024.

這假設我們運送的車輛數量相同。已經計劃在 2024 年開始生產的車輛與我們的 OEM 客戶沒有變化。米奇確實提到，我們已從原始設備製造商處承諾增加額外的車輛，目前至少有三輛進入整體計劃。預計這些車輛不會在 2024 年獲得 SOP。

Okay. Fair enough. And that's a good perspective. Maybe last question, I'll jump out of line here. On the last call, you talked about having a win with a top-10 global OEM for an autonomous ground vehicle. And I haven't seen any news out there that suggests who that might be -- maybe [I will start] off here and then your press release, you talked about shipping these samples to an autonomous ground vehicle customer. Is that one of the -- is one of those customers the one you referred to in the last earnings call? And is there any way you can help us think about who that might be?

好的。很公平。這是一個很好的觀點。也許是最後一個問題，我會在這裡跳出界限。在上次通話中，您談到了與全球 10 大自動地面車輛原始設備製造商的合作。而且我還沒有看到任何消息表明可能是誰——也許 [我會開始] 從這裡開始，然後是你的新聞稿，你談到將這些樣品運送給自動駕駛地面車輛客戶。那是您在上次財報電話會議中提到的那些客戶之一嗎？你有什麼辦法可以幫助我們考慮可能是誰？

Yeah, that's right. I mean we can't disclose the name yet. But I think in Q4 of this year, there will be some more public disclosures about the project and how Cepton's supporting this OEM customer. It is a Level four autonomous ground vehicle use case. It's been exhibited at a couple industry shows or it's starting to be exhibited at a couple of industry shows, but exact details are looking like Q4 this year.

是啊，沒錯。我的意思是我們還不能透露名字。但我認為在今年第四季度，將會有更多關於該項目以及 Cepton 如何支持該 OEM 客戶的公開披露。這是一個四級自主地面車輛用例。它已經在幾個行業展會上展出，或者它開始在幾個行業展會上展出，但具體細節看起來像今年第四季度。

Yes, I would add that I mean, it is a top, global top-10 automotive OEM that has a significant play in power products.

是的，我要補充一點，我的意思是，它是全球排名前 10 的頂級汽車 OEM，在電源產品方面發揮著重要作用。

Okay. And is this customer -- is Koito evolved with this customer, with both with this level four autonomous vehicle and their higher volume passenger vehicles as well?

好的。這個客戶 - Koito 是否與這個客戶一起發展，同時擁有這款四級自動駕駛汽車和他們的更高容量的乘用車？

Yeah, they are.

是的，他們是。

Okay. Good to know. I will jump at one of your guys. Thank you.

好的。很高興知道。我會撲向你們其中的一個人。謝謝。

Thanks, Richard.

謝謝，理查德。

Gus Richard, Northland.

格斯·理查德，北國。

Yes, thanks for taking my questions. Just in terms of GM and start of production, when do you anticipate that to occur?

是的，謝謝你回答我的問題。就通用汽車和生產開始而言，您預計什麼時候會發生？

Yes. I think GM publicly stated in their March press release around the Ultra Cruise sensor suite, that they're aiming to actually have these saleable vehicles to the consumers in December of this year. That's for the lead Celestiq vehicle. Beyond that, the additional vehicle models will continue to launch in first half of 2024. And then the remaining in second half of 2024, first half of 2025.

是的。我認為通用汽車在他們 3 月份關於 Ultra Cruise 傳感器套件的新聞稿中公開表示，他們的目標是在今年 12 月向消費者實際提供這些可銷售的車輛。那是針對領先的 Celestiq 車輛。除此之外，其他車型將在 2024 年上半年繼續推出。其餘車型將在 2024 年下半年和 2025 年上半年推出。

Okay. And at the end of 2024, you should be in four vehicles. Am I doing the math right there?

好的。到 2024 年底，您應該乘坐四輛車。我在那裡做數學嗎？

At least four, yes.

至少四個，是的。

Got it. And then, just turning to the infrastructure business. You announced the win this quarter, and I'm just wondering how many states -- how much of that quarter have you shipped in, do you expect any follow-ons?

知道了。然後，只轉向基礎設施業務。你宣布了本季度的勝利，我只是想知道有多少個州——你在那個季度有多少出貨了，你期待任何後續行動嗎？

Yes, definitely. We started shipping against that order in April. So there's a regular shipment every month for this tolling operator. It's going across three states initially. But there are many more that they're bidding on, and we expect to expand through early next year to additional states.

當然是。我們在 4 月份開始根據該訂單發貨。因此，該收費運營商每月定期發貨。它最初跨越三個州。但他們正在競標的還有更多，我們預計明年年初將擴展到更多州。

Okay. Just rough numbers, what percentage of the US population does that cover, roughly?

好的。只是粗略的數字，這大概涵蓋了美國人口的多少百分比？

Well, I think I'd say 10% is what we have.

好吧，我想我會說 10% 是我們所擁有的。

Yes. I mean, there's a populist east coast state there, I think we listed the states --

是的。我的意思是，那裡有一個民粹主義的東海岸州，我想我們列出了這些州——

Yes, the 10% is probably the coverage of what we have with that operator in terms of equipping the toll roads with lidar, right. So, there's still a vast majority of toll roads that's not equipped with lidar in this first phase.

是的，這 10% 可能是我們與該運營商在收費公路上配備激光雷達方面的覆蓋範圍，對吧。因此，在第一階段，仍有絕大多數收費公路沒有配備激光雷達。

Right. Got it. All right, Super helpful. That's it for me. Thank you.

正確的。知道了。好吧，超級有幫助。對我來說就是這樣。謝謝。

Thanks, Gus.

謝謝，格斯。

Matthew Galinko, Maxim Group.

馬修·加林科，馬克西姆集團。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Just was curious about what the pipeline looks like for the part infrastructure business out of this point beyond the highway win you discussed previously?

大家好。感謝您提出我的問題。只是想知道除了您之前討論的高速公路勝利之外，部分基礎設施業務的管道是什麼樣子的？

Yes. Definitely we're still supporting, you know, dozens of different applications. I would say there's a increasingly more applications that are starting to ramp now beyond just proof-of-concept. Previously, we've talked about airports. We expect those to be officially announced and ramp later this year. The autonomous ground vehicle use case as a result of our Nova near range lidar product, and we've begun collaborating with Koito on that, because there's a lot of interest in the short-range lidar for various applications.

是的。當然，我們仍在支持，您知道，數十種不同的應用程序。我會說現在有越來越多的應用程序開始超越概念驗證。之前，我們討論過機場。我們預計這些將在今年晚些時候正式宣布並上線。由於我們的 Nova 近距離激光雷達產品，自主地面車輛用例，我們已經開始與 Koito 合作，因為人們對用於各種應用的短距離激光雷達很感興趣。

And to just put a little bit more finer details on that. For this year, we expect smart infrastructure in terms of revenue will be in a single digit millions area -- towards mid-single digits. And we do expect next year to be in the double digits area millions.

並在此添加更多細節。今年，我們預計智能基礎設施的收入將達到數百萬的個位數——接近中等個位數。我們確實預計明年將達到兩位數的數百萬。

Got it. Thanks. And then maybe just, if you could touch on what you're seeing in the competitive environment, now in the RFPs you're responding to on the automotive side, on the Smart Infrastructure side as well?

知道了。謝謝。然後也許只是，如果你能談談你在競爭環境中看到的東西，現在在你在汽車方面回應的 RFP 中，在智能基礎設施方面也是如此？

Yes. On the automotive side, it's really Cepton and one competitor in most accounts. I would say, there's never more than one or two serious competitors in automotive because they have a pretty lengthy vetting process with their RFIs. Once they get to RFQ, they have it narrowed down to one or two companies.

是的。在汽車方面，它實際上是 Cepton 和大多數帳戶中的一個競爭對手。我想說的是，在汽車領域從來沒有超過一兩個真正的競爭對手，因為他們的 RFI 有一個相當漫長的審查過程。一旦他們開始詢價，他們就會將範圍縮小到一兩家公司。

On the smart infrastructure side, we're still seeing where directional lidars are replacing spinning lidars in applications. So, in that case, some of the spinning lidars companies are being conquested with directional lidars. I think there's a few more competitors within smart infrastructure as lidar companies trying to pivot to that space, if they didn't get an automotive program.

在智能基礎設施方面，我們仍然看到定向激光雷達正在取代應用中的旋轉激光雷達。因此，在那種情況下，一些旋轉激光雷達公司正在被定向激光雷達征服。我認為智能基礎設施中還有更多的競爭對手，因為激光雷達公司如果沒有獲得汽車項目，就會試圖轉向該領域。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Thanks, Matt.

謝謝，馬特。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. Please continue.

（操作員說明）目前沒有其他問題。請繼續。

Okay. Thank you for joining us today. We are really looking forward to this new year, and a lot of excitement in the automotive business. We'll report to you next quarter, hopefully with a lot more exciting news. Thank you.

好的。感謝您今天加入我們。我們真的很期待這個新的一年，以及汽車行業的許多激動人心的事情。我們將在下個季度向您報告，希望能帶來更多令人振奮的消息。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。