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| An employee poses with LG Innotek's new lenses for self-driving cars, Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Innotek |
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Innotek developed two new hybrid lenses for high-performance self-driving cars that are smaller with better price competitiveness than existing products, the company said Wednesday.
The company said it developed new lenses for its driver monitoring system (DMS) and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). What distinguishes them is that the company cross-applied thin plastic and glass inside the lens, while other lenses use only glass to prevent structural deformation due to temperature or external force.
In particular, the company is the first in the industry to apply plastic materials to ADAS lenses. By using plastic, the company was able to decrease the size and price of the lenses by using less glass. Given that cameras are increasingly being used inside the car, the new lenses will give carmakers more flexibility in vehicle design, according to the company.
"The high-performance lenses are 20 percent to 30 percent thinner than fully glass products. As they get thinner, they have the advantage of increased freedom in interior and exterior designs," a company spokesperson said.
"The higher the lever of self-driving, the more sensing the devices used are. So it is important to reduce the size of the parts."
The company said it increased the performance of its new lenses to match 100 percent glass lenses thanks to its technology that maintains consistent performance regardless of temperature.
LG Innotek expects the company will command an edge in the in-vehicle camera lens market. The camera lenses employed in self-driving vehicles are mounted in camera modules. They are key components of autonomous driving for driver assistance and driver recognition. In Europe, all vehicles are recommended to be equipped with DMS after 2025.
According to data by Strategy Analytics, the global self-driving camera market is expected to grow by around 17 percent annually to 7.9 trillion won in 2025 ($6 billion), up from 4.2 trillion won in 2021.
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