STMicroelectronics (STM) Wants Every Car Watching Its Driver, and Cheaply
On September 14, STMicroelectronics introduced the ST SafeSense VD56GA, a 1.1-megapixel infrared image sensor designed to make driver and passenger monitoring cheap enough for everyday vehicles. The small sensor measures 3.7 mm by 3.2 mm and boasts a 35% increase in sharpness and nearly 60% boost in infrared sensitivity over previous models.
The company claims the VD56GA can lower costs by enabling car manufacturers to use weaker lenses, simpler lighting, and reduced filtering, potentially eliminating the need for a separate image-processing chip. Industry projections suggest the market for driver and occupant monitoring will exceed 70 million units by 2031.
STMicroelectronics shipped its 10 millionth SafeSense automotive image sensor earlier this year, and its second quarter revenue of $3.49 billion marked a 26% increase from the previous year. However, operating margin for the same period was only 5.4%, and free cash flow was negative $261 million over the past 12 months. The company faces challenges in proving automakers will adopt the sensor in volume and whether power and discrete segment losses will impact overall profitability.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Finance's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
