Current Status and Future Trends of Vehicle-Mounted Cameras

Computer vision refers to the simulation of the human visual system through computers and related equipment. It processes captured images or videos to obtain three-dimensional information of corresponding scenes, enabling adaptation to and understanding of the external environment, as well as controlling self-motion. The goal of computer vision is to enable machines to replace the human eye, addressing three major tasks: object recognition, determining object shape and orientation, and judging object motion.
Within the subfields of artificial intelligence, computer vision has attracted significant capital interest, with approximately one-quarter of total AI financing flowing into the computer vision and image sector. Despite tight liquidity in the market this year, the concept of computer vision continues to maintain strong momentum in the AI venture capital landscape.
As people’s demand for driving safety continues to rise and ADAS-related technologies mature, the ADAS market has experienced explosive growth. Many countries are now considering mandating certain ADAS technologies in new vehicles. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has even suggested that by 2022, all new cars in the United States should be required to be equipped with ADAS systems. It is estimated that by 2025, ADAS will essentially cover the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market, with the overall market size reaching nearly €30 billion. In China, driven by favorable factors such as consumption structure upgrades, increased car purchasing demand among the middle class, and further policy liberalization, the penetration rate of ADAS will see an overall increase. A conservative estimate suggests that by 2020, China’s ADAS market size will exceed RMB 20 billion.
It is projected that by 2022, the global automotive sensor market will reach $2.38 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14%. Among these, the visual sensor market alone will achieve a CAGR of 24%, accounting for nearly one-third of the total share.
Vehicle-mounted cameras mainly include interior cameras, rearview cameras, front-view cameras, side-view cameras, and surround-view cameras. Currently, cameras are primarily used in vehicles for reverse imaging (rearview) and 360-degree panoramic views (surround-view). High-end vehicles can be equipped with up to eight cameras for various driver-assistance functions, such as assisting with parking or triggering emergency braking.
Eliminating blind spots has become a consensus in the field of traffic safety. To achieve this, the number of additional cameras installed in vehicles will exceed four.
The vehicle-mounted camera market is relatively mature, with industry barriers lying in module packaging technology and customer channels. Currently, leading camera manufacturers hold a significant market share, making it difficult for new entrants to gain ground.
CMOS is the photosensitive component of cameras. Compared to CCD photosensitive components, CMOS offers slightly lower image quality but is cheaper and more energy-efficient. It is widely used in vehicle-mounted cameras, where pixel requirements are not extremely high. Smartphone cameras also currently use CMOS sensors, which is one reason smartphone camera manufacturers are seeking to enter the vehicle-mounted camera market.
Compared to consumer-grade electronics like smartphone cameras and industrial-grade electronics for machine vision, vehicle-mounted cameras require higher stability and specifications due to safety concerns. Their module packaging processes are more complex, presenting higher technical barriers—particularly in dispensing technology. Although the industry’s market concentration is higher than that of smartphone cameras, it has not reached excessive levels. Panasonic holds a significant share, while the market shares of other top ten manufacturers are very close.
Currently, the camera module packaging market is largely dominated by Japanese and Korean manufacturers. Domestic Chinese companies such as Sunny Optical and O-Film have a relatively high market share in smartphone camera packaging and possess considerable process experience. They have begun entering the vehicle-mounted camera module packaging industry as well. Other domestic companies engaged in packaging business include Tongzhi Electronics, Shenzhen Haoen, and Suzhou Zhihua, though they remain relatively small in scale and struggle to compete with Japanese and Korean counterparts.
At present, most companies involved in intelligent driving visual algorithms in China are startups. Particularly amid capital enthusiasm for autonomous driving and AI concepts, algorithm companies continue to emerge. Many companies claim to be involved in the ADAS vision field, but what they actually produce are relatively low-tech products such as dashcams and reversing cameras. Few companies possess core technologies or algorithm capabilities that have reached commercializable levels. Moreover, there remains a considerable gap between ADAS and fully autonomous driving.
Currently, the global ADAS penetration rate remains low, and China’s rate is far below the global average. However, whether from the perspective of technological maturity or gradual policy liberalization, it is clear that ADAS adoption will continue to increase over the next three to five years. As an indispensable component of ADAS systems, cameras—with their cost advantage—are poised to achieve volume growth first in the wave of ADAS camera.
During the development of ADAS, the emergence of binocular vision solutions and the elimination of blind spots will drive an increase in the number of vehicle-mounted cameras. It is estimated that future vehicles will be equipped with more than 12 cameras, with L3-level and above models requiring even more.