As I write this, OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and university researchers are reimagining the automobile. Those reimaginings include a wide variety of displays, including displays that do not yet exist. Already an important market for industrial displays, the automotive industry is planning to increase the the number and average size of displays in vehicles.
In response to these powerful trends, the Society for Information Display is incorporating significant vehicular displays content in its annual Display Week event, being held this year from May 21 to May 26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This content comprises an Automotive Market Conference on Tuesday May 23, and a substantial Vehicle Track of technical papers on May 24 and May 25.
Members of the display community wanting a solid introduction to why increasingly sophisticated display suites are needed to support advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), connected-car technology, and autonomous vehicles would do well to attend the three keynote addresses that lead off the Automotive Market Conference from 11:10 am to 1:45 pm on May 23, with a break for the included lunch.
Thomas Seder, General Motors’ Chief Technologist for human-machine interaction and a GM Technical Fellow, will lead off with “Integrating Next-Generation Displays in Automotive Design.” At the SID Detroit Chapter’s 23rd Annual Symposium on Vehicle Displays in late September 2016, Seder chaired a lively panel discussion entitled “HMI Evolution,” where he showed himself to be an engaging and penetrating moderator. (One of his questions, in regard to autonomous vehicles: “Do we risk replacing human error with design error?”)
Incidentally, fully autonomous (SAE Level 5) vehicles will be on the roads more quickly than you may think. Ford, Audi, and BMW have all committed to having them available by 2021.
We can video conference about today’s Display Daily on the wide-aspect-ratio door displays as our Level 5 autonomous cars drive us to Los Angeles. (Image: Daimler Benz)
Next up will be Rashmi Rao, Senior Director of Advanced Engineering at Harman, Inc., and formerly of Apple. Late last year Harman agreed to be acquired by Samsung for $8 billion cash. Samsung calls Harman the “market leader in connected car solutions, with more than 30 million vehicles currently equipped with its connected car and audio systems….” Even at CES 2017, Harman was showing instrument cluster subsystems, including one in the Chrysler Pacifica, that used Samsung displays. Rao’s topic is “Humanizing the Autonomous Car.” It’s a significant marketing, as well as technical problem: If the “driver” isn’t driving the car, how can the driver feel like the car “belongs” to him or her?
After lunch Roger Lanctot, Associate Director of Strategy Analytics’ Global Automotive Practice, will present trends in the automotive and display markets, and what they portends for vehicle display requirements. Displays present data, and that data seemingly increase without end. Lanctot, who we last saw at the Consumer Telematics Show at CES, will discuss how OEMs are working to make this data available for informing the driver without causing undue driver distraction.
The keynotes will be followed by company presentations, some of which will be more interesting than others.
The first session in the symposium’s vehicle track is “Future of Automotive Displays and HMI,” which consists entirely of invited papers. Next is a session on automotive curved displays, which includes papers on the metrological challenges of curved displays, vehicular display-panel certification, and “The Impact of Mechanical Stresses on Light Leakage on Curved LCD.”
Following are sessions on materials, automotive lighting, visual performance of automotive displays, and HUDs and HMDs. The OEMs see HUDs as a critical technology for presenting complex AR data for ADAS, navigation, and instrumentation to drivers in a minimally distracting way.
We can video conference about this as our autonomous vehicles drive us to LA.
Ken Werner is Principal of Nutmeg Consultants, specializing in the display industry, manufacturing, technology, and applications, including mobile devices and television. He consults for attorneys, investment analysts, and companies re-positioning themselves within the display industry or using displays in their products. He is the 2017 recipient of the Society for Information Display’s Lewis and Beatrice Winner Award. You can reach him at [email protected].
