Part 24. [Mobility Insight] LG Electronics x Automobile Components Collaboration

Self-driving vehicles, big data, AI, cloud, and 5G, a combination of all these will be the future of cars. LG Electronics VS (Vehicle component Solution) is continuously seeking to provide various refreshing experiences in the automobile industry.

Collaborations are talk of the town these days. Two completely different brands collaborate to launch completely different products, or collaborate on new ideas and items from various industries. Moreover, automotive electronic component collaborations are hot these days and LG Electronics, which is marking milestones in automobile components, is no exception. Let’s find out which companies LG is collaborating with in the automobile market.

*The images inserted in this manuscript are staged advertising images and may differ from the actual images.

In July 2021, LG Electronics and Magna International decided to establish a joint venture in the field of electric vehicle powertrain. A joint venture is a business in which two or more companies work together for a common purpose. The electrification of automobiles is rapidly advancing, so we established ‘LG Magna e-Powertrain Co., Ltd.’ for customers in this market. LG Magna e-Powertrain produces various types of electric vehicle parts targeting various global premium automakers through mutual capital utilization, technology transfer, sales market development, and securing experts.

LG Magna e-Powertrain researches and develops motors, inverters, and on-board charger modules (OBCMs) for electric vehicles, as well as drive systems (modularized motors, inverters, and reducers).

Magna International has abundant business experience and global customer network, as well as integrated system design and verification engineering capabilities in the powertrain field. In addition, LG Electronics has technological prowess and manufacturing competitiveness for motors and inverters, which are key components of electric vehicle powertrains. You can look forward to the electronic components that LG Electronics and Magna are making together.

In August 2018, LG Electronics took over ZKW, an Austrian auto parts company which is a leader in the automotive lighting market. Also, in 2019, the headlamp business under the VS Company was integrated into ZKW for business efficiency. Currently, the ZKW Mexico plant produces headlamps for BMW, Ford Lincoln, Freightliner, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and other brands you might be familiar with.

In addition, ZKW is equipped with a smart process system called ‘Black Box’. The advantage of the ZKW Black Box is that it can quickly produce and inspect the headlight lens.

With the recent advances in technology, security threats are increasing too. As a result, the importance of cybersecurity is growing in the automotive industry. This is because cybersecurity is becoming an important criterion for determining the quality of automobiles throughout the lifecycle of automobile parts design, development, and operation. In particular, in the era of ‘Connected Cars’, where all cars are connected to a network, it may become natural for international standards for automotive cybersecurity to be strengthened as the automotive cybersecurity market is rapidly growing.

LG Electronics recently secured shares in Cybellum, a leading company in the automotive cybersecurity field, and is conducting a collaboration. Cybellum, which was established in 2016, has received recognition for its multi-platform analysis tools’ capabilities to analyze various software programs smoothly. Through this, we have a high capacity to check for vulnerabilities related to automobile cybersecurity.

Through collaboration with Cybellum, LG Electronics intends to further strengthen the security system of the electronic business such as infotainment and telematics, and to preoccupy the rapidly growing automotive cybersecurity market at an early stage.

The collaborations that LG Electronics is conducting in the automotive electronic parts market are really diverse, aren't they? But that's not all. Even in the future, you will see collaborations of LG Electronics' mobility technology in various fields in global premium automobiles for a long time to come.