Worldwide Electronic Rearview Mirror Market Sees Growth But Challenges such as High Cost, Low Reliability & Driver's Eyesight Shift Remain

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Jun 24, 2022, 15:45 ET

DUBLIN, June 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global and China Electronic Rearview Mirror Industry Report, 2021-2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In 2021, there were 346,700 insured passenger cars fitted with standard OEM streaming rearview mirrors in China, surging by 73.04% on the previous year.

The electronic rearview mirror market is soaring, but still in its infancy.

In April 2016, the 2016 Cadillac XT5 equipped with a streaming rearview mirror was launched on market. It was the first time that an OEM streaming rearview mirror appeared in the Chinese passenger car market. And then, auto brands like WEY, Buick and FAW (Hongqi, Bestune) also unveiled models with streaming rearview mirrors. As of May 2022, a total of 13 auto brands in China have marketed models carrying streaming rearview mirrors and achieved certain sales.

There are few streaming rearview mirror suppliers participating in the OEM market considering the current size, creating a relatively simple completive landscape. Our data show that Yuanfeng Technology is now the largest supplier of streaming rearview mirrors in the Chinese passenger car market, with an overwhelming market share of 72%.

As for solution implementation, mainstream solutions change Category I vision device from a conventional optical mirror to a display, so as to maximally adapt to the driver's habit of seeing the rear view. Some OEMs also carry out a compromise, a solution of separating the Category I vision device from the image, that is, still using the conventional optical mirror to present the image collected by the streaming camera on the cluster screen or the center console screen.

Electronic exterior mirrors: most automakers take a wait-and-see attitude.

Differing from streaming rearview mirrors, exterior rearview mirrors that play a hugely important role in daily driving safety walk on a bumpy road to electronization. Since the United Nations issued the UN-R6 regulation in June 2016, Europe, Japan, South Korea and India among other regions/countries have started to sell models equipped with electronic exterior mirrors.

Commercial vehicles:

Mercedes-Benz Trucks first introduced MirrorCam, a mass-produced electronic exterior mirror solution that was first applied to the flagship heavy-duty truck Actros. Mercedes-Benz adopts a conservative rearview mirror replacement strategy where only the main rearview mirror (Category II) and wide FOV rearview mirror (Category IV) are electronic, and the front view mirror and close-proximity exterior view mirror are retained.

Passenger cars:

Lexus, a luxury brand, was the first one to mass-produce the passenger car electronic exterior mirror and applied it to ES300h.
Lexus DIGITAL SIDE-VIEW MONITORS allows real-time switching of viewing angles in different driving conditions. For example, when the turn signal is on or the reverse gear is engaged, the viewing angle will automatically enlarge from an ordinary angle to a wide angle.

Challenges exist, but the trend is unstoppable.

Electronic rearview mirrors remain far more superior to conventional optical mirrors, but face huge challenges such as high cost, low reliability and the driver's eyesight shift. In the long run, electronic rearview mirrors will act as an integral part of vehicle intelligence, but will not become a megatrend in the short term.

Key Trends

The combination of CMS and ADAS/autonomous driving
The electronic rearview mirror camera is installed near the conventional exterior rearview mirror or at the rear of the vehicle, two positions where the ADS camera is often located. Some functions of CMS overlap the blind spot monitoring/blind spot detection/ADS camera, both of which aim to acquire or detect road traffic conditions at the side rear of the vehicle and provide driving decisions for the driver/vehicle. The two are expected to be integrated considering product cost, function realization and air resistance.

The fusion of CMS interior/exterior rearview mirror images
The way to display the side/rear view of the vehicle currently follows the conventional driving habits. The CMS screens are placed in the left, upper middle, and right in the front of the cockpit, with physical display splits. Technologically on the basis of retaining the traditional optical mirror, the images of the left rear, rear and right rear captured by the electronic exterior view mirror and the electronic interior mirror can be synthesized with algorithms, fused, and displayed on one screen.

The combination of CMS and cockpit domain controller
As chip computing power improves and E/E architecture evolves, cockpits are integrating display solutions such as LCD cluster, HUD, center console screen, co-pilot entertainment screen and rear entertainment screen into intelligent cockpit domain controllers, in a bid to enable unified management in the same chip. The emergence of electronic rearview mirrors produces more data flows that need processing for the vehicle, and separate ECUs will further drive up the cost of the entire vehicle. Lower cost will be the key driving force to the adoption of cockpit domain controllers.

Key Topics Covered:

Electronic Interior Rearview Mirror Market (Streaming Rearview Mirror)
Electronic Interior Rearview Mirror Major OEMs (Passenger Car)
Electronic Exterior Rearview Mirror Major OEMs (Passenger Car, Commercial Vehicle)
Electronic Rearview Mirror Tier-1 Suppliers (Overseas, Local)
Electronic Rearview Mirror Industry Chain (Chip, Camera)

Companies Mentioned