The vehicle displays of the future extend across the entire width of the vehicle.Continental
Large display tablets in automobiles are a thing of the past. The next generation of infotainment relies on screens that stretch across the entire width of the vehicle.
Even though car manufacturers celebrate infotainment screens as a manifesto of the new era, the debut of such a display dates back 48 years. The Aston Martin Lagonda had a digital cockpit in 1976. What started as a small display has now turned into true gigantism. Tesla and especially Chinese manufacturers place a huge tablet with a diagonal of 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) or more in the car. Not too long ago, PC screens had these dimensions.
The size of the displays goes hand in hand with a change in infotainment and the use of the car. While driving from A to B used to be the main focus, vehicles are increasingly becoming mobile offices or rolling entertainment palaces. The growth of these central monitors is limited by the conditions in the car. A screen that protrudes into the driver's field of vision is not necessarily ideal for traffic safety reasons.
The trend goes across the vehicle width
The new trend is displays that extend from A-pillar to A-pillar across the entire vehicle width. Where wood or aluminum applications once adorned the dashboard, you now look at monitors. This way, the passenger also has their own digital playground. This is already the case with models like the Porsche Taycan. In the future, the screens are to be integrated into the vehicle's interior in one piece. A first, somewhat unfinished preview of what this could look like was given by the failed electromobility start-up Byton with its Coast-to-Coast display.
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Mercedes goes from pillar to pillar
Mercedes ushered in the new era of extra-wide screens with the Hyperscreen in electric vehicles like the EQS. The next evolutionary stage was seen in the BEV long-distance study EQXX, where the curved monitors already integrated much more naturally into the interior. In the models based on the MMA platform (Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture), the pillar-to-pillar displays (from A-pillar to A-pillar) are likely to go into series production next year. The new all-electric CLA family will kick things off. The curved display is bent with a radius of 4,200 millimeters, measures 47.5 inches (120.65 centimeters), and consists of more than 3,000 LEDs that are illuminated on a surface of 7,680 by 660 pixels.
This so-called matrix backlighting has several positive effects that are important in a car. The razor-sharp image quality with high contrast makes it easier to operate the touchscreen. To prevent the driver from being too distracted, the corresponding menu fields only appear when you approach the monitors with your fingers. The fact that individual screen areas can be dimmed (local dimming) improves readability and also saves power, which is not unimportant in an electric car.
In the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, the display extends from A-pillar to A-pillar.Mercedes-Benz
These "ultrawide displays" do not consist of one large monitor, but of several screens combined under a glass surface. This gives developers the opportunity to integrate sensors and cameras into the component.
Even across the Atlantic, they are embracing this new digital world. Of course, in North America, it can be a bit bigger. Cadillac adds another ten centimeters to the new Escalade compared to the Mercedes CLA and places a 139.7-centimeter display between the pillars.
BMW turns the windshield into a head-up display
BMW doesn't want to be left behind and will introduce the Panoramic Vision in the New Class from 2025. As the marketing-laden name suggests, this is also a monster display. However, it is a head-up display that stretches almost across the entire width of the windshield. For projecting the content, the Munich-based company uses a dark-coated area at the lower edge of the windshield. The information should not only be easily readable by all passengers in the vehicle even in bright light but should also always have the relevant content in the right place. This means the driver only sees the information they select and not what the co-pilot is currently looking at.
BMW uses the vehicle's windshield as a head-up display.BMW
"The windshield becomes a single large display with our new BMW Panoramic Vision, offering completely new possibilities for designing our vehicles. Whether the driver decides which information to display in their field of view or all passengers can see all content. The revolutionary projection and the significantly clearer cockpit create an impressive new sense of space and driving," explains BMW's Head of Development Frank Weber.
Micro-LED is the technology of the future
This is far from the end of development, as the future of display technology is already on the horizon. The Micro-LED combines the advantages of OLED and LED technology. For example, these diodes last four times longer than OLEDs, consume little power, offer a wide color gamut, and high brightness. For use in automobiles, it is very important that Micro-LEDs are highly resistant to environmental influences such as sunlight and the associated high temperatures. Moisture and vibrations also have little effect on Micro-LEDs. Also on the plus side are very good contrasts and consistently high brightness. Another advantage is the faster response time, of only a few nanoseconds, which is especially important for videos and computer games. However, the manufacturing costs are still very high.
