LG Innotek teams up with Kakao Mobility for self-driving solutions

LG Innotek Chief Strategy Officer Oh Se-jin, second from left, poses with Kakao Mobility Executive Vice President Kim Jin-kyu, third from left, after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding for developing autonomous driving solutions at the former's headquarters in Gangseo District, Seoul, in this handout phoro released Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Innotek

LG Innotek has partnered with Kakao Mobility to develop autonomous driving solutions, expanding their presence in sensing modules for physical artificial intelligence (AI) and self-driving data.

The companies announced Wednesday that they signed a memorandum of understanding to develop self-driving solutions, combining LG Innotek’s sensing modules such as cameras, radar and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) with Kakao Mobility’s driving data and software technologies.

Under the partnership, LG Innotek plans to obtain real-world driving data from Kakao Mobility to further improve the performance and quality of its sensing modules.

Kakao Mobility plans to apply LG Innotek’s sensing technologies to its autonomous driving data management system, which automates the entire process from data collection to training and deployment.

“Through the partnership, we will accelerate our efforts to secure and internalize high-quality driving data and end-to-end autonomous driving technologies,” Ryu Gung-seon said. “We will continue to enhance the competitiveness of Korea’s autonomous driving ecosystem through strategic partnerships that combine software and hardware technologies.”

LG Innotek CEO Moon Hyuk-soo said the collaboration with Kakao Mobility will serve as a valuable opportunity to further advance LG Innotek’s sensing technologies, adding that “we will provide sensing solutions not only for autonomous driving, but also for new areas such as robots and drones, and become a top-tier player in the physical AI sensing sector.”

LG Innotek has identified sensing modules for physical AI applications as its next growth driver, setting an ambitious goal of generating 2 trillion won ($1.32 billion) in sales by 2030.

The company has been aggressively expanding its partnerships with global tech firms to secure an early lead in the physical AI market. In March, LG Innotek formed a strategic partnership with Applied Intuition for joint autonomous driving solution development. In May last year, it signed an agreement with Boston Dynamics to develop vision sensing systems for humanoid robots.