The Status Quo of Precision Optical Components in Automobile Industry

With the development of the economy, the sales of cars have been maintaining a continuing growth trend globally, and the market of in-vehicle cameras has stepped into a period of rapid growth. The development of in-vehicle cameras benefits from the development of Internet of Vehicles and autonomous driving, and the space for market development is huge.

In trems of the application fields of global precision optical components, there's higher demand for camera clarity of in-vehicle cameras.

In the future, in-vehicle cameras will benefit from two major trends. On the one hand, the era of autonomous driving is quietly coming, and ADAS, an advanced driver assistance system, has entered the growth stage of the industry and will soon usher in rapid explosive growth. According to estimates by the Boston Consulting Group, there will be 18 million cars in the world with some driverless functions before 2035, and China will become the largest market of smart cars; on the other hand, on-board cameras will serve as an important entry point for information processing in the Internet of Vehicles.

According to a report released by IHSAutomotive, global shipments of in-vehicle cameras will increase from 28 million in 2014 to 82.7 million in 2020, with a 6-year compound growth rate of 19.8%. The annual compound growth rate of China's in-vehicle cameras will exceed 30% from 2015 to 2020. With the advent of the fully automated driving era after 2020, the market of car camera will bring a geometric growth trend.

There's a broad prospect market of the automotive lens which is a famous optical application. The automotive applications have entered a period of rapid growth since2012 and the automotive assisted driving system equipped with radar, infrared and automotive cameras have brought drivers a new driving experience and safe driving guarantee. The on-board camera can be divided into driving assistance (driving recorder, ADAS and active safety system), parking assistance (from a whole-vehicle surround view) and vehicle personnel monitoring, throughout the entire process from driving to parking. A total of at least 7 cameras are required for the advanced driving assistance system (ADAS system) surround view system and in-vehicle monitoring. With the technological development of automotive electronics, the number of bicycle cameras will also increase in volume.

ADAS system is the main part of the development of automobile intelligence, and it is also a strong guarantee for automobile active safety. The camera is one of the cores to realize advanced driving assistance. In the ADAS system, the camera and other related components are used as the visual system, not only to identify the target, but also to alert the dangerous situation. According to the forecast of Mcnex, the largest automobile camera manufacturer in South Korea, in the future, when cameras replace traditional side-view mirrors, the number of on-board cameras per car will rise to 12.

In addition, in recent years, various countries have also introduced corresponding policies to ensure car safety. Starting in 2018, the United States will mandate that cars be equipped with rear cameras to prevent collisions with pedestrians during reversing. Global camera sales are bound to continue to grow.

Compared with the cameras of mobile phone, the industry of car cameras forms a higher barriers to entry, and the unit price is about eight times that of mobile phone cameras. China's industry chain of car cameras will face new development opportunities in the next few years.