From Tesla's giant dashboard-mounted tablet to the infotainment systems found in many new cars, screens are taking over the driving experience and software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are becoming standard. And at CES 2024, LG Display is bringing the next big innovation in this area.
At the major event, the company will abandon its “smartphones on wheels” concept and provide a full-width dashboard at the front and two foldable screens at the back, as well as a huge security feature for driver safety. Concentration.
Specific details are a bit sparse as this is a concept. But from what's described here, LG is ready to take a big step forward in the automotive entertainment space. Imagine what this could do when combined with Microsoft and Tom Tom's new in-vehicle AI!
Technical specifications
So what is LG bringing to the living room? In his own words, there are “various large format car screens”. In the specific example, we see the dashboard of a vehicle that is completely covered by a huge screen.
This takes advantage of LG Display's various technologies such as P-OLED for plastic substrates that increase flexibility, Advanced Thin OLED for not adding extra thickness to the dashboard, and LTPS (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon) for a dynamic refresh rate.
You can see this flexibility in the fold-down screens in the rear seats, where the company is introducing a series of sliding and folding OLED panels that can be hidden or expanded if passengers want additional screen space.
Keep safety in mind
So the obvious question here is what happens to potential driver distractions? If the passenger is looking at something on their side of the screen, it could potentially attract the driver's attention. This is where Switchable Privacy Mode (SPM) comes into play, which redirects all displayed content to the passenger side.
This happens automatically while driving and is a big step forward in ensuring the passenger can have as much fun as the rear passengers while maintaining the driver's concentration. We'll learn a lot more about how this is achieved (I bet viewing angles are limited thanks to P-OLED technology) when we look at LG's new automotive innovation at CES.