Regulations and ADAS Help Intelligent Rearview Mirror Market Blossom

In our report China Automotive Intelligent Rearview Mirror Industry Report, 2020, we analyze and research the status quo of the industry and the suppliers (including exterior electronic rearview mirror, streaming media rearview mirror and intelligent cloud mirror).

Exterior electronic rearview mirror: as European Union and Japan loosen their regulations, passenger car manufacturers race to test the waters.

As European Union and Japan relaxed their regulatory restrictions in 2016 and 2017, separately, exterior electronic rearview mirror market gained pace there. OEMs like Audi, Lexus, Honda and Koenigsegg have introduced mature applications successively.

In China where exterior electronic rearview mirrors are still not allowed to replace conventional ones, suppliers find another way out: combining exterior electronic rearview mirror and usual one as a solution to complement commercial vehicle vision system. At present, two Chinese bus giants Yutong Bus and King Long have made product layout; in 2020 BYD rolled out a city electric bus – K9 packing exterior electronic rearview mirrors.

Foreign suppliers of exterior electronic rearview mirrors are led by Valeo, Magna,

Tokai Rika and Bosch, all of which take the mirror as an essential part of ADAS or intelligent driving system.

In China, typical suppliers are Shanghai Yuxing Electronics and Zhengzhou Senpeng Electronic Technology, of which the former has provided exterior electronic rearview mirror + conventional rearview mirror integrated solution for Yutong Bus, so has Senpeng Electronic done for BYD K9. In June 2020, Yuxing Electronics and Metoak Technology (Beijing) forged strategic partnership in the aspects of blind spot visualization and risk warning by exterior electronic rearview mirror, a kind of camera monitor system (CMS). This means automotive rearview mirror solutions of Chinese suppliers are fusing with ADAS system.

Streaming media rearview mirror: more and more vehicle models pack it.

Streaming media rearview mirror market has been tepid since it was installed onto OEM models in 2015. Despite a penetration of not higher than 0.5% during 2018-2019, streaming media rearview mirrors have been mounted on a growing number of OEM models (e.g., Hongqi, Besturn, Buick, Land Rover and Toyota) between 2019 and 2020, thanks to the popularity of smart cockpits. Some models gave eye-catching performance after general availability on market. Examples include Buick GL8 with 16,580 units sold in just two months after launch in May 2020, including up to 72.5% with streaming media rearview mirrors. It is predicted that the penetration of streaming media rearview mirrors in the Chinese passenger car market will outstrip 1% in 2020.

Considering it is easy to install in vehicles, streaming media rearview mirror holds the trends as follows:

• Support such AI technologies as face recognition and iris recognition for personalized layout in OEM models;
• Show what exterior electronic rearview mirrors display, reducing screens in a vehicle;
• Fuse with other capabilities, e.g., ETC, offering more convenient driving experience.

Intelligent Cloud Mirror: The market is burgeoning, and product functions get enriched

From 2015 to 2019, China's private car ownership soared from 130 million to 240 million units, triggering huge demand for smart cloud mirrors in the aftermarket.

Currently, smart cloud mirror vendors highlight such capabilities of their product as ADAS alerts and intelligent voice interaction. JADO and 70mai have launched streaming media rearview mirrors and smart cloud mirror all-in-ones that support the simultaneous recording of front and rearview mirrors. In brief, smart cloud mirrors evolve from driving recorders, and now are integrated with streaming media rearview mirrors, ADAS and intelligent voice.

Internet giants such as Baidu, 360, and Xiaomi have entered the smart cloud mirror market through complete product solutions, and Alibaba has made its foray by AliOS. The market competition pricks up with the involvement of these internet tycoons.