“Sudden Acceleration Accidents on the Rise”… Focus HNS, AI 4/8 Channel Black Box Business

[Seoul Newsis Reporter Bae Yo-han] As the National Assembly continues to propose bills to prevent and investigate suspected sudden acceleration accidents, Focus H&S is moving to strengthen its market competitiveness with 4-channel and 8-channel black boxes.

Focus H&S announced on the 18th that it will launch its AI vehicle control solution business in earnest through 4-channel and 8-channel black box businesses.

Focus H&S is planning to launch a B2C product for general vehicles beyond the existing 4-channel and 8-channel black boxes for industrial and corporate use. This is because, as the controversy over sudden acceleration accidents has recently increased, the market demand for ‘pedal black boxes’ that can film the brake and accelerator pedals to provide evidence for drivers’ ability to suddenly accelerate is expanding.

We are also considering ways to expand the scope of use, such as linking with Magellan M, an AI vehicle control solution developed with our own technology.

A 4-channel black box is a product that can simultaneously film front and rear, left and right, interior, and pedals. An 8-channel black box is a product that can simultaneously film, save, and monitor in real time a total of 8 directions, including front and rear, left and right, interior, pedals, and specific areas, and has the advantage of minimizing blind spots.

Focus H&S has already developed a 4-channel black box for industrial and corporate use in 2018, and completed the development of an 8-channel black box in 2019. The 4-channel and 8-channel AI black boxes have been installed and operated in domestic large company commuter buses and special-purpose vehicles since 2023.

Sudden acceleration suspected accidents are rapidly increasing around the world. In Korea, from 2017 to the present, 236 cases of suspected sudden acceleration have been reported to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority and 524 cases to the National Forensic Service. A total of 760 cases have been reported, but none have been recognized as sudden acceleration.

Even government agencies with experts have difficulty proving sudden acceleration, and it is even more difficult for ordinary people to prove it. Given this situation, there is an increasing movement among drivers to install pedal black boxes in preparation for possible sudden acceleration accidents.

In particular, discussions are becoming more active, such as the introduction of a bill to make pedal black box installation mandatory after the Siheung Station accident. On the 8th, Rep. Lee Heon-seung of the People Power Party introduced a revision to the Automobile Management Act that includes the ‘mandatory installation of pedal black boxes in automobiles.’ Recently, Rep. Yoon Jong-geun of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee introduced a bill that would allow insurance premiums to be reduced if recording devices, including pedal black boxes, are installed in vehicles.

A company official said, “As market demand for pedal black boxes increases, we plan to expand the launch of 4-channel and 8-channel black boxes as B2C products for automobiles in the future,” adding, “We are currently spurring the preemption of a new market called the safe mobility platform through the vehicle control solution ‘Magellan,’ and we plan to create synergy by launching 4- and 8-channel black boxes equipped with AI functions.”