LG expands its presence in the world of smart home
LG is now playing a big role in the smart home after years of being on the fringes of home automation.
The South Korean company now has a new multi-protocol hub, is opening up its ThinQ platform to smart home devices, and will soon allow other platforms to integrate their devices into its ecosystem.
ThinQ's transition from being just an app to control LG appliances to becoming a competitor to smart home platforms like Samsung's SmartThings and Apple's Apple Home has been driven by the standardization of smart home connectivity through initiatives like Thread and Matter, and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
“Until now, the smart home has been about connecting smart devices, and it’s time to move to the next chapter with the advent of generative AI,” LG said. “Before, we talked about technical readiness, now we’re ready to deliver solutions.”
The ThinQ ON hub powers these solutions using voice control and generative AI.
With support for Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi standards, the new hub is also a smart speaker with a voice assistant called AI Agent.
The voice assistant is limited to the new hub for now, though LG has confirmed that it will arrive on additional devices later.
Thanks to LG's AI, which it calls "emotional intelligence," the voice assistant should be able to learn from usage patterns, monitor its devices, and allow voice control of connected devices.
“The voice assistant can understand the conditions in your home and control things based on your situation and lifestyle,” LG said. “If it starts to get too hot in your home, it can understand the conditions in your home and automatically control the temperature and fan speed.”
Currently, smart home devices can automatically adjust the climate based on sensors, though LG is adding a level of autonomy, allowing the smart assistant to control your home's climate based on what it knows about your home and your preferences, as well as what it thinks is best.
At the IFA tech show in Berlin this month, the South Korean company showed off a range of scenarios in which the voice assistant automatically controls the home environment, most of which rely on LG devices, though the company said it is opening the platform to additional products in order to provide additional connected experiences and provide added value to customers.
With its new center, the South Korean company is integrating other smart home devices into its ecosystem to work alongside its own devices.
The company also plans to allow its devices to work in other ecosystems, allowing users to integrate their devices into their smart homes however they want.
LG's new hub is central to these ambitions, capable of supporting hundreds of devices, from smart locks and smart lights to robot vacuums, smart sensors and smart plugs, all of which can be controlled through LG's ThinQ app.
The hub and app also feature a new operating system to manage and control these devices. Earlier this year, the South Korean company acquired a majority stake in Athom, and ported its Homey OS to ThinQ ON.
In addition to integrating third-party smart home devices into its smart home solution, the company plans to allow other platforms to integrate with LG appliances via APIs.