Automotive has become a key application to adopt advanced display technologies. During the virtual SID Display Week 2020, several OLED and micro LED displays were demonstrated. The article summarizes the key findings of the show.
Key Findings
- Automotive has become a key application to adopt advanced display technologies. During the virtual Society for Information Display’s (SID) Display Week 2020, held on August 3–7, 2020, several OLED and micro LED displays for the automotive application were demonstrated.
- Both OLED and micro LED display technologies can provide true-black, transparency, and flexible functions, which are essential to create an immersive user experience. However, doubts on the reliability of OLED and the high manufacturing cost of micro LED are still obstacles to these two technologies. LCDs with mini LED–based backlighting will be the transitioning technology.
- LG Display showed several flexible OLED solutions for vehicles, including cinematic sound instrument cluster display, transparent windshield display, and 27-inch co-drive display.
- AUO worked with PlayNitride and introduced a 9.4-inch flexible, large-sized micro LED dual-display. PlayNitride showed a 7.56-inch transparent micro LED display.
- Tianma demonstrated its local dimming thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) solutions, including the ARCUS-CURVE (dual-cell LCD) and LCD with mini LED–based backlighting.
SID’s 57th Display Week took place on August 3–7, 2020 as an all-virtual event. Automotive was the main application to demonstrate the advantages of advanced display technologies. At the show, LG Display showed a series of flexible OLED solutions, while AUO and PlayNitride introduced the flexible, transparent, large-sized micro LED display. Tianma mainly focused on its TFT-LCD solutions and showed its ARCUS-CURVE (dual-cell LCD) and LCD with mini LED–based backlighting. For more information, please refer to links in the “Further reading” section of the Appendix.
LG Display showed a series of flexible OLED solutions
LG Display’s plastic OLED (pOLED) is its key flexible OLED solution for the automotive market. At the show, LG Display demonstrated transparent OLED, cinematic sound OLED, and 27-inch center information display (CID) + co-drive display (CDD).
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Although there are a couple of car models with OLEDs (please refer to links in the “Further reading” section of the Appendix for more details), cost, durability, and luminance issues are still the main hurdles for the mass adoption of OLED in the automotive market. LG Display has planned to introduce OLED 2.0 in 2022 to enhance the specification and to bring up the next OLED concepts for the automotive application.
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AUO introduced a 9.4-inch flexible, large-sized micro LED duo display
Those used in automotive interiors are required to endure harsh environmental conditions, such as extreme temperatures, high humidity, and prolonged UV exposure. OLED is an organic-based display technology and needs several special designs to meet the requirements. The market is looking for another display technology, and micro LED is regarded as a potential advanced display technology for automotive. At the show, AUO, which worked with PlayNitride, introduced a 9.4-inch flexible, large-sized micro LED dual-display, which consists of two 9.4-inch panels combined into one. The panel features an ultra-high pixel density of 228ppi and is S-curved. AUO also showed another V-shaped, rigid micro LED display, combined with a 12.1-inch cluster display and a 12.1-inch center stack display.
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PlayNitride, a Taiwan-based micro LED solution provider, worked with Tianma and showed a 7.56-inch transparent, flexible, micro LED display.
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AUO indicated that commercial micro LED products will hit the market in one to two years, and will be for consumer electronic applications (possibly wearables). The automotive display product is also under development. PlayNitride stated that its PixeLED Matrix would be approved in the second half of 2020 (2H20) for TV walls and automotive exterior lighting and that it aims to cut micro LED cost by 95% in five years.
Dual-cell LCD and LCD with mini LED–based backlighting are the transitioning products
Besides micro LED displays, Tianma showed a series of TFT-LCD solutions for automotive. Its ARCUS-CURVE LCD uses dual-cell dimming technology to achieve a high contrast ratio, while its LCD with mini LED–based backlighting is another way to accomplish thousands of dimming zones, high color gamut, and low-power consumption.
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Innolux, which did not exhibit in this year’s Display Week, is the leading supplier of LCDs with active matrix (AM)-type, mini LED–based backlighting for automotive. The company has worked with General Motors since 2017. The latest release of General Motors—2023 Cadillac Lyriq EV—will be equipped with Innolux’s solution.
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