LG unveils self-driving auto parts, brighter OLED panels

LG Group’s two units have showcased new automotive and display products, which would expand their presence in autonomous driving and premium TV markets.

At CES 2023, LG Innotek Co. said on Thursday that it was unveiling multiple automotive components to the general audience. It set up a promotional booth in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, a mobility tech exhibition venue.

At the booth, the company displayed a prototype car embedded with 16 types of its automotive parts, with an aim to bolster its presence in the global EV and self-driving car segments.

LG Innotek is a major supplier of camera modules for Apple iPhones.

Among the components is the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) camera module that scans the surrounding environment of a vehicle through 360-degree directional sensing.

The Radar module detects the direction, speed and distance of objects inside and outside of the car.

LG also showed off new products designed to create a metaverse virtual world such as an optical telephone zoom camera module that won an innovative award at CES 2023.

Its two-metal chip on film (CoF), unveiled at the world’s largest tech show, is a key component to visualize high-definition displays as well.

Its affiliate LG Display Co. showcased a third-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel for TVs based on the meta technology.

Meta technology combines ultrafine lenses that maximize light emissions from OLED panels and luminance-enhancing algorithms.

Based on the meta technology, the latest OLED display achieve 60% brighter images and 30% wider viewing angles than conventional models, as well as 20% greater energy efficiency.

The microlenses embedded in the third-generation OLED panel keep light being reflected back into the panel and being lost.

On top of uneven microlenses are built self-powered light-emitting organic materials to maximize the display’s light emissions.

The meta technology will be adopted for LG's premium OLED TVs of 55, 66 and 77-inche 4K TVs and 77 and 88-inch 8K models to be launched this year.

It will be expanded to all lineups of TVs in the next few years, the company said on Thursday.

Write to Seung-woo Lee at lsw@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article