Posts

Samsung Display, supplies 7-inch OLED for Virtual Exterior Mirror to Audi

Samsung Display announced on October 3 that the company will be supplying a 7-inch OLED display for Audi’s all-new electric Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), the Audi e-tron®. The Audi e-tron has attracted attention throughout the automotive industry. One of its highlights are optional* ‘virtual exterior mirrors’ – a ‘first’ for a volume-production car.

Audi’s virtual exterior mirrors feature a small side-view camera instead of the existing side mirrors. The driver can view the images captured by the camera in real time through the OLED display installed between the vehicle’s A pillar (the column next to the front glass) and the door.

<Virtual exterior mirror applied to e-Tron, Audi, Source: news.samsungdisplay.com>

The OLED display supplied by Samsung Display is equipped with one camera on each side of the vehicle dashboard, replacing the existing side mirror function, and the built-in touch sensor allows people to zoom in or out on the screen as if to manipulate a smartphone. Audi said the Virtual Exterior Mirror offers a wider field of view without blind spots, compared to a typical side mirror. It provides better visibility even on cloudy days and in dark places, and it provides a ‘view mode’ suitable for each driving situation such as highway driving, rotation, parking, etc for more convenient and safe driving. By eliminating the side mirrors that protrude out of the vehicle, it reduces air resistance and wind noise. Also, slim and beautiful design is possible, reducing the body width by 5.9 inches.

The images seen on the Samsung display that covers each virtual exterior mirror appear natural and distinct with none of the drag effects typically triggered by a slow response rate at low temperatures, while exhibiting outstanding color reproducibility. The Samsung 7-inch OLED display provides Audi e-tron drivers with an ideal visual solution, thanks to its low power consumption and innovatively thin, lightweight design, in addition to its superior imaging.

Jeeho Baek, Senior Vice President of Samsung Display, said “It is inspiring to many that our OLED display is used in Audi’s virtual exterior mirror, demonstrating that Samsung OLED technology is being optimized for cutting-edge automobile systems around the world. We will continue to actively support leading automotive manufacturers in helping them to advance the future automotive market through the use of our OLED display technology with its high resolution, advanced designs and low power consumption.”

 

 

Automaker’s fierce competition for pre-occupying OLED for automobiles

In 2017, automakers are fiercely competing to pre-occupy OLED displays and lighting for automobiles. OLED display has good visibility and possible to design a curved surface, so it has advantages of design differentiation. Lighting is not irritating to the eyes and the surface emission is possible so that the frequency of adoption of OLED is expected to increase even more.

HYUNDAI Mobis actively promoted curved OLED for brand differentiation at 2017 Seoul Motor Show held in Ilsan KINTEX from March 31 to April 9. HYUNDAI Mobis official said “the display has a 12.3-inch flexible OLED with advantages of true black and fast response at all temperatures” also revealed “this product is under development for mass production in 2020 for cluster or CID”.

<Curved OLED Display unveiled by HYUNDAI Mobis>

British automaker Bentley also introduced the key features of the ‘EXP 12 Speed 6e’, a pure electric concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland on March 9, and announced that it would be equipped with a high-quality OLED display near the CID. Bentley official said “a curved glass OLED screen is applied near CID, it allows the occupants to operate navigation and to control the temperature freely,” in addition, “Access to social media, e-mail and entertainment will be easy”.

<OLED Display used near CID of EXP 12 Speed 6e, Source: Bentleymotos.com>

In addition, Audi Japan announced on March 28 that it decided to officially launch a small sports car “TT” applied an OLED tail lamp on some motels from mid of May. This is the first time that Audi has applied OLED tail lamps to mass-produced vehicles, allowed it to be optionally mounted on TT’s top models, the TT RS Coupe and TT RS Roadster. According to Audi Japan corporate, the option price is about 120,000 yen. The tail lamps commercialized by Audi this time are made up of 4 OLED panels and are known to have thicknesses of 1 to 2 mm per panel. Total 4 light-emitting areas are 49cm2 and brightness is 1000cd/m2, and German OSRAM supplies OLED panel.

<OLED rear lamp used for TT, Source: Audi.co.jp>

As such, the number of cars using OLED displays and lighting is increasing. According to “2017 Automotive Display Report – Application & Market Trend Analysis and The Market Forecast” published by UBI Research, market research company, demand for displays for automobiles is projected to grow at a CAGR(compound annual growth rate) of 17% from 2017 to 2022, reaching US $ 25,000 million by 2022. Also, OLED displays for automobiles are expected to grow rapidly from 2018 to 2022, reaching US $ 5 million in 2022, accounting for about 20% of the total automotive display market.

Hyun Jun Jang, senior researcher of UBI Research, mentioned that “OLED has the advantage of providing various convenience to the driver such as infinite contrast ratio and fast response speed above all, it can be applied in various forms inside and outside the car based on the flexibility so that it can be a great merit for premium cars that emphasize design and differentiation.”

Absolute Requirements for the Automotive OLED Display’s Success

On October 15, in IMID Exhibition Business Forum held in Korea International Exhibition Center (October 14-16), KATECH (Korea Automotive Technology Institute)’s head of Intelligent Control System R&D Center Dr. Inbeom Yang presented ‘Future of Automotive Technology and the Role of Smart Display’ and forecast the future of automotive display.

 

Dr. Yang revealed that “if existing vehicles focused on technological factors, future vehicles will evolve entirely centering on the driver, and the automotive display also will develop following this trend”. He also added that the driver’s safety and convenience have to be the priority.

 

Dr. Yang gave 4 examples of future automotive display. Firstly, he discussed ADAS and their flaws. ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) help the driver to operate the vehicle safely. If ADAS can be actualized through displays such as HUD (head-up display), the driver’s safety can be maintained with ease.

 

The second item mentioned was a function that notifies the driver status reports linked with time and location. Dr. Yang reported that a device needs to be developed that can function in specific situations with sensors and sounds as well as on display.

 

Dr. Yang forecast that if display, touch technology, and haptic technology are combined and applied to vehicles, operation and feedback will be simpler for the driver. He announced that multi-functional & configuration display will also be introduced which will allow driver to recognize and control.

 

Audi’s concept vehicle that was presented in IAA 2015 Audi e-tron quattro has full OLED interface and all functions required for the vehicle operation can be controlled via touch display without physical buttons.

 

As futuristic displays such as these are developed that increases driver’s convenience, the proportion of display within a vehicle is expected to increase, and developed focusing on the driver centered UI (user interface). OLED Display can maximize the driver’s accuracy with fast response rate and high contrast ratio. Along with safety, and design freedom that comes with flexibility, it is suitable for automotive display. However, the linkage with the UI system optimized for the driver is essential rather than performance of the display panel itself; collaboration between display panel companies, and automotive system and peripheral companies is expected to be a major point in early market occupancy between automotive display panel companies.

Audi Q7 3.0 TDI quattro ,Geneva International Motor Show

[IAA 2015] Audi and Porsche, Propose Future Models of Smart Car

At IAA 2015 (September 17 – 27), Audi and Porsche presented OLED lighting and display equipped vehicles.

 

In the past, Audi has proved OLED technology’s excellence through diverse models and demonstrations, including introduction of ‘swarm’ in 2013 with its 3D OLED car rear lighting panels. At this motor show, Audi revealed Audi e-tron quattro, the first concept car with Matrix OLED technology. As well as the Matrix OLED lighting, interior OLED display was also applied to the concept car. Audi explained that the Matrix OLED lighting, which was applied to the rear lighting, can continuously change lights and does not cast shadow. Full OLED interface was also applied to the car and all functions required in driving can be control by display touch. Audi revealed that they will gradually apply these technology to next generation Audi series.

 

Porsche presented their first four-seat electric sports car Mission E as a concept model. The instrument cluster for this concept car is displayed virtually in OLED. The menu can be activated through buttons on the handle. It can also be automatically activated as the cluster’s eye tracking system can perceive the driver’s attention. The display also follows the seat position and body attitude of the driver in what is known as a parallax effect; the display moves according to the driver’s posture for easier viewing. Porsche revealed that Porsche Car Connect technology will also be applied which will allow the user to control key functions of the vehicle through a smartphone.

 

As OLED using lighting and display are actively applied to smart cars, attention on the automotive OLED is also increasing. At the National Research Development Industry General Workshop, held in July 2015, Samsung Display and LG Display each stated their thoughts on display that will be applied to future smart cars.

 

Samsung Display’s executive director Hye Yong Chu asserted that smart is display’s future, including smart car. She also explained that for the actualization of smart technology, other ancillary smart technology, such as eye tracking and voice recognition technology, are required.

 

Yoon Sooyoung, LG Display’s vice president, stated that automotive display can be used for CID, dashboard, cluster, and window, and that the development of transparent and flexible technology is necessary.

 

During the keynote session of IMID 2015, Munhyun Kim of Hyundai Motors revealed that OLED panels will mainly be applied to smart car compared to LCD as it can easily be flexible. He also added that the automotive OLED’s percentage within the total OLED market will increase, and anticipated that it will exceed 30% in 2017.

 

 

Porsche Mission E, Porsche Home page

Porsche Mission E, Porsche Home page