Application of Smart Car Camera Lens

Automotive perception systems consist of camera lens, millimeter wave radar, and lidar, among which the car camera lens has the longest history of application in automotive perception. Due to its low cost and mature technology, it complements the advantages of other sensors such as millimeter wave radar and is difficult to replace in the long term. At the same time, in order to conform to the trend of automotive intelligence and networking, the threshold for onboard camera lens and imaging industries is gradually being raised, including higher image quality, more complex hardware configurations, and higher computing power requirements.

The application of more camera lens to vehicles has become an important symbol that distinguishes smart cars from traditional cars, and is also an important embodiment of automotive technology innovation. Here we take a look at some of the applications of onboard camera lens.

Front camera lens: ADAS function and a larger field of view

Camera lens used for perception of the external environment of the car are generally distributed in the front, rear, and sides of the car, with 4-8 external camera lens of varying numbers. The main purpose is to detect the surroundings of the vehicle and provide drivers with surrounding environment information. To a certain extent, it also realizes auxiliary driving functions, including adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and pedestrian-vehicle collision warning.

The forward camera len is usually installed behind the windshield, with a 1-3 camera lens installed, which can meet a wider field of view, deeper perception ability, and have high dynamic range.

Automotive camera lens 360° panoramic view system + chassis perspective imaging system: Escorting safe autonomous parking

The 360° panoramic view system generally consists of 4-6 high dynamic range, high-resolution camera lens distributed in the front, rear, and sides of the car. The system collects the image information from the car camera lens surrounding the vehicle, forms a bird's-eye view and projects it onto the car's central control screen, covering the surrounding area of the vehicle from all directions.

In the trend of automotive intelligence, the 360° panoramic view system has become an important technical foundation for autonomous parking and one-key vehicle start-up functions, which usually need to be combined with millimeter wave radar to achieve more accurate road and obstacle detection.

In addition to the 360° panoramic view system, some automakers have also proposed an upgraded "chassis perspective" imaging system to achieve higher safety coefficient for parking. The principle is to project the real-time imaging information in front of the vehicle and under the front of the car on the central touch screen, presenting a clear 180° virtual view. Currently, the chassis perspective imaging system is mostly used in SUV models, and other levels of models are gradually catching up.

The combination of 360° panoramic view system and 180° chassis perspective imaging system further eliminates driving and riding blind spots and avoids risks, facilitating the realization of autonomous parking functions. For example, the 540° Smart Panoramic Imaging system equipped on the 2021 Lynk & Co 06 is based on the 360° panoramic view system and adds the 180° chassis perspective imaging system.