Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS) today announced the upcoming release of the ISX038 CMOS image sensor for automotive cameras, the industry’s first product that can simultaneously process and output RAW and YUV images.
The new sensor product has proprietary ISP inside and can process and output RAW and YUV images simultaneously. RAW images are required for external environment detection and recognition in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems (AD), while the YUV images are provided for infotainment applications such as the drive recorder and augmented reality (AR).
By expanding the applications a single camera can offer, the new product helps simplify automotive camera systems and saves space, cost, and power.
The roles of automotive cameras continue to diversify in line with advances in ADAS and AD and increasing needs and requirements pertaining to the driver experience. On the other hand, there is limited space for installing such cameras, making it impossible to continue adding more indefinitely, which in turn has created a demand to do more with a single camera.
The ISX038 is the industry’s first CMOS image sensor for automotive cameras that can simultaneously process and output RAW and YUV images. It uses a stacked structure consisting of a pixel chip and a logic chip with signal processing circuit, with the SSS’ proprietary ISP on the logic chip. This design allows a single camera to provide high-precision detection and recognition capabilities of the environment outside the vehicle and visual information to assist the driver as infotainment applications. When compared with conventional methods such as a multi-camera system or a system that outputs RAW and YUV images using an external ISP, the new product helps simplify automotive camera systems, saving space, costs, and power.
ISX038 will offer compatibility with the EyeQ™6 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) currently offered by Mobileye, for use in ADAS and AD technology.