Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
LG Innotek unveils next-gen under-display driver camera
An LG Innotek employee holds an under-display camera module designed to be installed behind a vehicle’s instrument screen for driver monitoring. Courtesy of LG Innotek
By Lee Gyu-lee
LG Innotek said Thursday it has developed a next-generation under-display camera (UDC) module that can be mounted behind a vehicle’s instrument cluster to monitor the driver.
The UDC is a core component of the driver monitoring system (DMS), which combines in-vehicle cameras and software to detect the driver’s condition — such as forward attention — in real time.
Developed through about a year of joint research with LG Display, the new module addresses a longstanding challenge of UDC technology: image quality degradation caused by the display covering the camera lens.
The auto parts company said the product applies its proprietary artificial intelligence-based image restoration software to recover lost visual information, achieving image quality that is more than 99 percent equivalent to footage captured without a display obstructing the lens.
Unlike conventional DMS cameras that protrude from dashboards or steering wheels, the new UDC module is completely hidden behind the instrument cluster. The company said this design enhances interior aesthetics and increases design flexibility, making the technology particularly attractive for luxury vehicle models.
LG Innotek plans to further enhance the performance of the UDC, expanding its capabilities beyond driver and passenger recognition to support customized in-vehicle convenience features.
With the development of the next-generation UDC, the company said it has strengthened its portfolio of autonomous driving sensing solutions, covering both vehicle interiors and exteriors.
The product will be unveiled for the first time at CES 2026, the world’s largest consumer electronics and IT exhibition, set to take place in Las Vegas in January.
“We will grow revenue from our vehicle sensing solutions business to the 2 trillion won level by 2030,” LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuk-soo said. “We aim to become a trusted technology partner by introducing innovative components that deliver differentiated value to our customers.”