According to the Korea Electronics and Information & Communications Industry Association, the production value of Korea's electronics industry in 2018 was recorded at $171.101 billion. This ranks third in the world, following China and the United States. This figure shows how much the Korean electronics industry has developed over the past 60 years, considering that in the 1960s, it was worth less than 1 billion dollars a year.


The 50th Korea Electronics Show 2019, held for four days from October 8 to 11, was an opportunity to grasp the present state of the Korean electronics industry, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and to look toward its future.

The Korea Electronics Show (KES), marking its 50th anniversary this year since its first 개최 in 1969, features a total of 443 companies, including 104 overseas companies, occupying 1,100 booths.

On the first day of the opening, LG Electronics’ A&B Center Head Lee Sang-yong, Samsung Electronics’ AI&SW Center Head Shim Eun-soo, and Futuresource Consulting’s Executive Analyst Jack Wetherill delivered keynote speeches to share trends and insights in the electronics industry.

Lee Sang-yong, Head of the Center at LG Electronics, who served as the first keynote speaker, discussed the current status of the changing automotive industry and the direction Korea should take under the theme of "Industry Trends and Evolutionary Directions in Response to Changes in Mobility."


The mobility market attracting attention from the electronics industry
Beginning the keynote speech, he stated, “Connectivity is currently a major issue in the electronics industry, and since interoperability with third-party products is required, LG Electronics is pursuing an open platform.”Center Director Lee Sang-yong, who stated this, went through the latest connected car trends one by one.

Although cars are still being sold in large quantities, they spend most of their time parked in parking lots. Even when driving, they are stuck in traffic, spewing out exhaust fumes while drivers endure boring times inside the vehicle. Under these circumstances, acceleration and engine displacement, which were traditional measures of vehicle value, are losing their meaning.

Automobiles are now transforming into connected, autonomous, and shared electric vehicles. This change is not the future, but the reality.

Although smaller in scale than before, traditional IT companies such as Microsoft and IBM dominated an entire exhibition hall at this year's Frankfurt International Motor Show. Additionally, global automotive OEMs showcased a variety of electric vehicles and connected services, while various companies unveiled mobility services and continued to make diverse attempts at the efficient operation of transportation.

Currently, companies in the automotive and electronics industries are engaged in a fierce battle to expand their capabilities into each other's domains within the automotive market.


V2X technology enabling connected cars
Connected cars are connected to surrounding objects. Therefore, they detect dangers in advance that cannot be detected by the car's own sensors alone. In addition, the vehicle transmits surrounding road conditions to the smart city in real time. The smart city can utilize various environmental variables, such as weather, to predict traffic congestion and efficiently regulate traffic flow.

The connectivity technology that makes this possible is V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything). Currently, V2X is competing with DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication) technology using Wi-Fi and C-V2X methods using mobile communication such as LTE and 5G, and hybrid technology that combines the two technologies is also emerging.

With the proliferation of V2X, automobiles face the challenge of transmitting large amounts of data at high speeds. This requires antenna, packet packaging, Ethernet, and E&E architecture technologies.

Security is also crucial. Technologies such as real-time status monitoring, network protection, intrusion prevention, and message encryption are necessary to prevent hacking. There are also movements to separate driving function networks from convenience function networks to prevent hackers from interfering with driving.


Control, autonomous driving, and the key to the future of car-sharing services
Car-sharing services have the potential to reduce the inconvenience of public transportation by matching supply and demand in real time. Due to this potential, the growth of the car-sharing market is rapid. It is expected to grow by 100% annually, reaching 237 trillion won in 2025 and 3,500 trillion won in 2040. Investment is doubling every year.

A rosy future is not automatically guaranteed. Currently, ride-sharing vehicles are cheaper than taxis but more expensive than privately owned cars for the same distance. Uber recorded a loss of over 6 trillion won in the last quarter. This is because competition is intensifying due to the proliferation of companies, and as the number of shared vehicles increases, the salaries of shared vehicle drivers also rise. This is why control technology and autonomous driving technology are necessary.

Control technology will match supply and demand even more quickly. It will also monitor the cleanliness of the vehicle interior using various sensors and enable the creation of new added value, such as assisting users with shopping and work through in-vehicle displays.

Autonomous driving technology is being developed through collaboration among various companies, including automotive OEMs and IT firms. For autonomous driving technology to be commercialized, not only technical challenges but also non-technical ones must be resolved. For instance, there is the issue of determining who is responsible for accidents that occur during autonomous driving. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is collaborating with leading automotive OEMs such as Ford, GM, and Toyota to form an autonomous vehicle safety consortium and is working to lead the enactment of relevant legislation.


To survive in the changing mobility market
Sensors are a key element of autonomous driving, but relying solely on them has its limitations. For autonomous driving, road conditions that sensors cannot detect in advance must be known through preceding vehicles or urban infrastructure.

Since the first automobile appeared in 1886, the automotive industry has been undergoing a major transformation. Cars are no longer something to be owned, but something to be shared. Connected cars will increase revenue by creating mobility and value-added services. Electric vehicles with fewer components will facilitate the entry of new entrants, while the complex technological capabilities required to implement autonomous vehicles will demand software-centric competitiveness.

Concluding his keynote speech, Center Director Lee Sang-yong emphasized, “Over the next 10 years, the advancement of connectivity and AI technologies will converge information flows across all domains to drive massive changes,” adding, “Because the scope of this change is so vast that no single company can provide all the technologies and services, corporate competitiveness will depend on how well partnerships are utilized.”