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 High-end cars can carry as many as eight cameras to visually aid
parking or trigger emergency brakes. That number could reach 12 when
cameras replace side-view mirrors, according to Mcnex Co Ltd, a
phone camera supplier of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Korea's
biggest car camera maker.
As the technology reaches mid- and lower-end cars, the market for
vehicle cameras could grow seven-fold from 2011 to nearly $6.6
billion in 2018, said Techno Systems Research.
That amount can only rise with regulation such as compulsory rear
cameras in the United States from 2018 to stop drivers backing into
pedestrians. Also adding to demand will be the spread of
camera-laden self-driving vehicles like those of Google Inc.
"We expect the vehicle camera market to experience explosive
growth," Lee Hyo-cheol, a principal research engineer at Korean auto
parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd, told Reuters.
But cameras have to be far more robust for cars than phones. They
must withstand tests that include days of submersion in water and
1,000 hours of temperatures shifting within seconds between minus 40
degrees and plus 85 degrees Celsius.
"Vehicle cameras are completely different from mobile cameras in
terms of specifications," Lee said. Phone camera makers have had to
face a steep learning curve, he said.
Cameras for cars are priced around $32 each compared with $4 for
phones, according to Mcnex, which earned 19 percent of revenue last
year from car cameras versus 2 percent in 2007. Prices could fall,
however, as volume grows.
About 83 million car cameras are likely to be sold in 2020, five
times more than in 2012, said researcher IHS Automotive. By
comparison, shipments of smartphones - which generally feature two
cameras - will likely grow 6 percent in 2018 from 39 percent last
year, according to researcher IDC.
FROM APPLE TO BMW
Hyundai Mobis buys from compatriot phone and car camera makers Mcnex,
LG Innotek Co Ltd, and Sekonix Co Ltd. It installs them into systems
designed to aid parking, for instance, which it then sells to sister
carmakers Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp. Hyundai's top-end
car Genesis sports five cameras, including cameras that sense
whether the vehicle is veering out of lane.
LG Innotek, better known for the cameras in Apple Inc's iPhone,
started making vehicle cameras last year and is in talks to supply
luxury carmaker BMW, said a person familiar with the matter.
LG Innotek declined to comment. A BMW Korea spokeswoman said LG
Innotek is among companies it is in talks with.
Sekonix, which sells lenses to leading phone maker Samsung, already
supplies Hyundai Motor and General Motors Co through Hyundai Mobis
and Delphi Automotive PLC, respectively.
This quarter it will see its lenses in cars from Volkswagen AG <VOWG_p.DE>
and subsidiary Audi through parts maker Gentex Corp, said a Sekonix
official who was not authorised to speak to media and so declined to
be identified.
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Sekonix declined to comment. Audi said Gentex was a customer of
Sekonix but could not confirm parts from Gentex featured Sekonix
products. Gentex did not respond to an emailed request for comment
and representatives at Volkswagen were not available.
ADDING COMPLEXITY
The market for vehicle cameras, largely limited to high-end models,
is already crowded - particularly for suppliers of the complete
cameras comprising lens, image sensor and circuitry.
Panasonic Corp and Sony Corp lead in parking cameras, according to
IHS, and Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL] and Autoliv Inc
dominate front cameras.
"It is very difficult to enter the automotive camera market from
supplying mobile phone cameras, especially the complicated front
camera market," IHS senior analyst Helena Perslow said by email.
Continental and Robert Bosch also install software for their front
cameras to trigger brakes when 'seeing' an obstacle, for instance,
adding a layer of complexity.
Further back in the supply chain, smartphone lens makers Haesung
Optics Co Ltd and Kolen Co Ltd are also on the verge of branching
out.
Haesung has started looking for its first customer for parking
camera lenses, said an official who was not authorised to talk to
the media.
Kolen, however, is not yet marketing lenses it developed for cars
because there is so much competition that Kolen's entry could
trigger a price war, said an official who also declined to be
identified.
"The existing players will not sit still if we enter the market."
Neither Haesung nor Kolen were available for comment.
(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight in TOKYO; Editing by Tony
Munroe and Christopher Cushing)
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