LG Innotek announced Wednesday the company has developed a communications module for automobiles based on Qualcomm’s 5G chip as the first in the world.

The 5G communications module, a combination of a communications chip, memory and radio frequency circuit, is a component that enables transmission of data between a vehicle and 5G base station.

The module, as small and slim as a credit card, will enable sharing of real-time traffic information, precise location measurement and communication between the vehicle and other objects. It ultimately is aimed for use in autonomous driving. 

The chipset running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform can activate the urgent braking function when a self-driving driving a 100 kilometers per hour detects an obstacle about four times quicker than with an LTE chipset due to 5G’s low latency.

LG highlighted it applied its proprietary radio frequency circuit design technology, high precision and density modularized technology and heat-resistant materials to building the 5G module in order to solve the heat generation problem in 5G vehicle chips.

“The successful development of 5G communications module for vehicles will speed up the commercialization of entirely autonomous vehicles and connected cars by manufacturers,” an LG Innotek official said.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)