Dongwoon Anatech starts 3D gesture controller business

Dongwoon Anatech was developing 3D gesture controller technology with a supplier, a company executive told TheElec.

The controller is aimed the automobile market, company CTO Lee Jae-shik said.

The technology will be sued by the driver to use hand gestures to control the automobile’s navigation, infotainment and air conditioning systems.

Dongwoon have already developed the 3D camera module with optical image stabilization and vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser chip needed for the controller.

It was also developing the time of flight (ToF) sensor with Solid Vue. It was collaborating with another supplier on the need AI algorithm.

The 3D gesture controller module requires: vision processor, 3D camera module, VSCEL chip, 3D ToF sensor and the algorithm to process all the data collected from these sensors.

Optical image stabilization technology is crucial in this as automobiles vibrate a lot, Lee said.

Dongwoon is a major supplier of cameras with OIS feature to Samsung and Huawei.

3D gesture technology in cars was first commercialized in 2015 by Delphi and BMW for the 7 Series.

More car companies, such as Audi and Volkswagen, have applied the technology since then.

Lee said around 400,000 automobile accidents occur due to the neglect of the driver. This has caused various countries to work towards requiring car makers to put in gesture control in their vehicles, which means the market has great potential to grow, the CTO added.