LG Innotek (CEO Moon Hyuk-soo) announced its ambition to develop its vehicle sensing solutions business into a KRW 2 trillion business by 2030.

LG Innotek announced on the 24th that it is expanding the application of its world-class optical solution source technology to the future mobility sector and is launching a full-scale drive into its vehicle sensing solution business.

At a press conference held in March, CEO Moon Hyuk-soo announced his plan to “build a robust business portfolio by discovering future businesses where LG Innotek can expand its ‘first-class know-how’ accumulated through its mobile camera module business.”

The sensing solution business for AD (autonomous driving) and ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), which consists of camera modules, LiDAR, and radar, is considered a representative field where CEO Moon's management strategy can be most quickly put into action.

In the autonomous driving market, emerging as a key future vehicle sector, the safety of drivers and pedestrians is paramount. Failure to accurately detect obstacles that could impede driving can lead to serious accidents. This is why automakers are focusing on advanced vehicle sensing solutions.

LG Innotek is accelerating its conquest of the LiDAR market, focusing on 'high-performance LiDAR' as the core axis of its vehicle sensing solution business.

Notably, LG Innotek established a dedicated LiDAR business unit, directly reporting to the CEO, earlier this month. LiDAR development and business units previously scattered across the Optical Solutions Division and CTO were consolidated under this new unit. This reorganization was largely driven by CEO Moon's commitment to directly overseeing the LiDAR business and concentrating its capabilities to drive it forward.

Since 2015, LG Innotek has continuously strengthened its core competencies for the LiDAR business. Last year, it acquired 77 LiDAR-related US patents from a US autonomous driving startup. LG Innotek now holds approximately 300 LiDAR-related patents.

Along with LiDAR, another key product line that LG Innotek has focused on is high-value-added vehicle camera modules.

Camera modules installed in commercially available automobiles to date are mostly limited to basic photographing functions, offering little added value. As we enter the era of autonomous driving, vehicle camera modules will need to serve as the driver's eyes. Vehicle camera modules equipped with more precise and advanced sensing capabilities are essential.

In line with this trend, LG Innotek signed an equity investment agreement with Taiwan's AOE Optronics (hereinafter referred to as AOE) earlier this year to strengthen its vehicle camera module business capabilities.

In the autonomous vehicle industry, demand for aspherical glass lenses, a key component for high-resolution cameras, is increasing, and AOE possesses manufacturing technology specialized in this field. Through close collaboration with AOE, LG Innotek has been able to accelerate the development of high value-added vehicle camera modules.

In February of this year, LG Innotek unveiled a "high-performance heated camera module" that quickly defrosts frost on vehicle camera lenses during extreme cold weather. While maintaining the same camera module size, the addition of a heater provides differentiated customer value.

LG Innotek is currently developing a high-heat material that can further increase heating speeds compared to this product. The company plans to conduct performance verification of an ultra-high-speed heating camera module using this material this year.

Additionally, we are developing a camera module equipped with a cleaning function that instantly removes foreign substances such as dust from the lens during driving. Through this, we plan to continuously expand our portfolio of high-value-added vehicle camera modules.

Active investment in facilities is also underway to secure a lead in the vehicle camera module market.

LG Innotek purchased an additional 30,000 pyeong (approximately 99,173 m2) of land near its existing production facility in San Juan del Rio, Mexico, and began expanding its factory last year. The newly expanded factory is scheduled to begin mass production of vehicle camera modules in the second half of next year.

An LG Innotek official added, “The decision to make Mexico our vehicle camera module production hub is a strategy to further strengthen our customer responsiveness by leveraging our geographical proximity to North America, where our finished vehicle customers are concentrated.”

LG Innotek aims to lead the AD/ADAS sensing solution market by creating differentiated customer value as a 'vehicle sensing total solution provider' that encompasses both the interior and exterior of vehicles.

In fact, global automakers developing autonomous vehicles are known to have established different sensing component adoption strategies.

LG Innotek plans to continue improving the performance of its vehicle camera modules to respond to customers who only want to use vehicle camera modules.

At the same time, the company plans to actively secure customers considering the adoption of various sensing components, spearheading 'Sensor Fusion', which combines vehicle camera modules and LiDAR through software.

Furthermore, LG Innotek plans to develop and propose to customers an 'In-Cabin Vehicle Camera Module' that can be used for various purposes inside the vehicle, such as video conferencing, entertainment, and child monitoring, in addition to sensing components mounted on the exterior of the vehicle.

CEO Moon said, “Based on the first-class success formula learned from the mobile camera module business, we will foster the vehicle sensing solutions business into another first-class business by 2030, generating 2 trillion won in annual sales.”