According to a report by ZhiDX on July 7, Ning Shuyong, co-founder of ASU and president of the automotive department, along with Dr Lin Weizhi, chief scientist of ASU, recently had in-depth exchanges with a few medias of the industry, including ZhiDX, on the LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology.
LCoS is a novel type of reflective micro-LCD projection technology, which uses a CMOS integrated circuit chip coated with liquid crystal silicon as the backplane for the reflective LCD. Compared with DLP (Digital Light Processing), LCoS has the characteristics of high light utilization efficiency, high resolution, small size, and no patent barriers.
HUD (Head-Up Display) can use projection technology to project a picture on the windshield of the car to assist the driver. At present, the projection technology used in HUD mainly includes the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology, the DLP technology, laser scanning projection and LCoS. After research and development, ASU has managed to apply LCoS to AR-HUD (Augmented Reality Head-Up Display), in the current HUD market, which is already which a bloodbath, can LCoS manage to stand out?
ASU, invested by industrial capital such as Haier and Xiaomi, is an optical company that starts from devices and modules, and is trying to break into the field of laser display and automotive integration. Ning Shuyong, co-founder of ASU, said: "We believe that LCoS may win half of DLP’s market share in the future.”
▲Ning Shuyong, co-founder of ASU
Although a technology that preceded DLP, the development of LCoS didn't go smoothly at first. When the technology was not mature, LCoS could only achieve one-third of the efficiency of DLP at the time. So far, DLP technology has occupied more than 90% of the projection market.
There are two reasons why ASU are choosing to face the difficulties and ‘die on the hill’ of LCoS. First, LCoS, as a reflective projection technology, has two advantages over DLP's penetrating type. One is that the light transmittance is higher, reaching more than twice the light transmittance of DLP. The second advantage is that the resistance to heat from the environment is good, and it is more suitable for usages in external advertising and other such harsh environments.
Another reason is that the DLP chip technology around the world is monopolized by Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments has been researching DLP for many years, its process yield and patent barriers forming an absolute advantage in this field, making it extremely difficult for other manufacturers to enter. Dr Lin Weizhi, chief scientist of ASU, said: "If we keep buying Texas Instruments' products, our company’s growth will be limited by their production volume.”
After five years of research and development, ASU has achieved 100% domestic production of the optical chips, providing global LCoS researchers with the bargaining power to break the monopoly. At the same time, ASU has created the most complete LCoS ecosystem in China, including the LCoS image engine, the camera lens, the LCoS driver and modulation, as well as application scenario optical solutions, etc., providing support and hope for China's LCoS industry.
In the process of research, ASU has found a new path, using a special optical design to make the light efficiency of LCoS exceed the light efficiency of DLP. Secondly, DLP has millions of rapidly vibrating lenses when operating, and some users will experience the so-called ‘rainbow phenomenon’, especially during the driving process, which may cause the lens to fall off, but LCoS will not have this phenomenon. Although Texas Instruments offers an automotive version of DLP, it will cost more than an AR-HUD system using LCoS.
In addition, the ‘1000:1’ contrast ratio of LCoS chips will also perform better than the ‘500:1’ of DLP, the higher contrast reducing the possibility of the "light window effect", which better ensures driver safety. The use of LCoS technology can compress the volume of the overall HUD from 12 litres to 7.5 litres, which is suitable for installing in the usually very limited and valuable space of the car interior. Overall, laser LCoS PGUs may be a perfect solution for AR-HUD imaging at a lower cost.
▲ASU AR-HUD
According to the monitoring data of GGII’s smart automotive department, from January to May this year, the number of domestic new cars equipped with HUD as standard was 414.5k units, a year-on-year increase of 118.96%, of which W-HUD accounted for 91.41%. At the same time, GGII predicts that the number of AR-HUD installations will have the opportunity to exceed 15k this year, and the proportion of AR-HUDs in all HUD front-mounted vehicles will likely rise to 20% by 2023.
▲GGII Automotive Chart
Ning Shuyong said: "I think that smart automotives have entered the 2.0 era from the 1.0 era, with three distinct characteristics: personalization, smart interaction and vehicle-road coordination. Consumers and OEMs alike want AR-HUDs to add more content, such as vehicle safety reminders, danger alerts, and advertising. In the future, high-degree personalisation of automobiles will be a trend. Perhaps, the ‘spring’ of the AR-HUD market is not far away.
Conclusion: From the laboratory to the commercial use, LCoS technology is ‘landing’ soon
The AR-HUD market may be heating up, and ASU are keenly aware of the market trend and actively engaged in the design and development of LCoS products.
At present, the LCOS technology ecosystem of ASU has broken up the technology monopoly position of Texas Instruments and provided an alternative direction for domestic AR-HUD. At the same time, ASU is also actively planning for the automotive intelligent ecosystem, of which the AR smart tailgate has been officially implemented in mass production.
"We hope to break new ground in cars early next year." Ning Shuyong said.
