South Korean Tech Giant LG Electronics Collaborates With U.S. Chipmaker Freescale To Develop Technology For Self-Driving Cars
One of South Korea's leading tech companies LG Electronics is working together with American multinational corporation Freescale Semiconductor to develop a technology that is vital to self-driving cars, which they will call Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), reported Korea Herald on Oct. 7.
"We are excited by this opportunity to work with Freescale on next generation technologies such as ADAS," said president and CEO of the LG Vehicle Components Company Dr. Lee Woo Jong. "As the automobile evolves from a mechanical to an electronic system, LG will be in the perfect position to contribute its experience to the exciting area of driverless cars and automated driving."
The latest technology recognizes its role in the future where driverless cars may be seen on roads. The ADAS utilizes cameras to give out alerts to drivers in hazardous situations providing more safety to the driver and other drivers on the road as well.
Yonhap News Agency noted on Oct. 7 that the ADAS technology automatically stops vehicles when obstacles not seen by the driver are detected. It also allows the car to sense their surroundings so that drivers do not go outside their lanes or exceed speed limit.
Based on both companies' expertise, Freescale will develop enhanced processors for the self-driving car, while LG Electronics will provide its world-class camera technology equipped through mobile and home appliances.
According to WT VOX on March 2, Freescale has developed a new microcontroller called the S32V, which allow car systems to react to sensor inputs such as cameras, laser, radar and sonar sensors. The technology will pave the way to self-driving cars that are capable of self-steering, cruise control and automated self-parking.
The chipmaker's vice president Matt Johnson noted that the S32V allows automakers to incorporate their own software development on the microcontroller through the OpenCL environment feature of the chip.
"Freescale is pleased to partner with LG on IP development for automotive vision applications," said vice president and general manager for Freescale's Auto MCU group Matt Johnson. "The capabilities of each company are highly complementary and through sharing of key vision processing and automotive safety capabilities, both companies expect to accelerate development of differentiated solutions for ADAS applications."
LG also aims to put their research and development plans on futuristic self-driving cars into full speed in order to provide the best technology for their collaboration.
