LG Electronics appears to be on course to ramp up its drive for the development of autonomous driving with an aim to debut its first artificial intelligence-based self-driving solution at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, according to the industry on Thursday.

The South Korean electronics manufacturer’s Chief Technology Officer Park Il-pyung will deliver a keynote speech at CES about the newest technologies under development by LG, which includes its AI-powered navigation system, according to news reports.

LG officials declined the reports, saying it is too early to confirm what the keynote speech will be about, but acknowledged the CTO’s research and development division has recently been increasing efforts to develop self-driving solutions. 

At IFA 2018 in September, LG CEO Jo Seong-jin and CTO Park jointly introduced the company’s robotics technology in a keynote speech, suggesting the electronics maker that used to focus on providing home appliances is shifting its eye to AI and robotics.

The company also reportedly invested $8 million in VayaVision, an Israel-based 3D data solution for self-driving, as part of the R&D enhancement based on its principle of “Open Innovation” with third-party developers.

“The CTO division is spurring up to make a meaningful achievement in the smart car field,” said an engineer in charge of developing smart car solutions at the company’s R&D center in Magok, northwestern Seoul.

“LG has an internal goal of building a complete autonomous car system, and the acquisition of ZKW was just the beginning,” he said.

LG acquired Austria-based headlamp maker ZKW last year and included it as a new LG affiliate in September.

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