Automotive OLEDs: introduction and industry news - Page 23

Luxury British automaker Bentley introduced a new electric concept car, the EXP 12 Speed 6e. The new concept uses a curved flexible OLED display near the driver as can be seen in the image below.

In January 2017 Bentley said it aims to adopt transparent OLEDs in future cars.

In 2015 Audi demonstrated a luxury electric crossover concept car, the e-tron quattro, which sported OLED displays and OLED lighting in its frontlights and taillights. Audi is soon set to unveil its latest e-Tron concept, this time of a sportback edition, which also uses OLED tail lights.

Audi did not show the new car yet, but did release the video you see above demonstrating the OLED taillights, and also the image below.

Genesis (a premium sub-brand of Hyundai) unveiled its latest concept car, the GV80 SUV. The car sports several new technologies (including a hydrogen fuel cell) - including a long curved OLED display - 22" in size.

Earlier this year Chrysler unveiled its Portal concept car - which sported an elongated flexible OLED that seems very similar to the one used by Genesis. According to reports the Chrysler flexible OLED prototype was produced by Samsung Display.

Wisechip, the Taiwan-based PMOLED maker, demonstrated its new flexible and transparent PMOLED displays last week in a trade show in Germany. Embedded News TV interviewed the company's R&D manager and published the following video which also shows Wisechip's latest OLED prototypes.

On display at the trade show were two flexible OLEDs - a 1.8" monochrome 160x32 panel, a 1.36" monochrome 128x16 panel. Wisechip also has a 256 x 64 display. Wisechip also demonstrated a new transparent OLED for automotive applications and a round 1.07" 160x136 transparent PMOLED (this one was also on display last year). Wisechip's original plan was to start producing transparent displays towards the end of 2016, but apparently this is a bit delayed. We hear that the displays are nearing production though.

The Holst Center presented a new functional demonstrator that uses the Holst' in-mold electronics (IME) technology to show new human-machine interfaces in automotive electronics and consumer appliances. One of the new technologies embedded in this demonstrator is flexible OLED lighting that is used to illuminate touch controls.

The Holst Center says that this is the first time a flexible OLED has been used to illuminate touch controls. Usually several LEDs, light guides, complex wiring and bulky PCBs are required to achieve this effect. Flexible OLED lighting provides a much easier solution with complete design freedom.

In January 2017 we reported that Konica Minolta and Pioneer are set to merge their OLED business unit, and today Konica Minolta officially announced a joint-venture with Pioneer to accelerate automotive OLED lighting.

Konica Minolta and Pioneer will setup a joint venture, which will be called Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED. The new 50:50 JV company will be established in May 2017 with an initial capital of 490 million yen (about $4.4 million) and a focus on OLED lighting for automotive applications.

Taiwan-based PMOLED maker Wisechip announced it is developing transparent and flexible PMOLED displays last year, and the company has presented new prototype displays in a trade show in Germany last week.

Wisechip demonstrated three flexible OLEDs - a 1.8" 160x32 panel and a 1.36" 128x16 panel. Both are monochrome (white) panels as you can see in the photo above. The third display is a 256x64 one. The curvature radius of Wisechip's displays is 40 mm. The photo also includes a demonstration of a PMOLED display embedded in a credit card form.

Today we published new versions of our market reports - that cover the transparent, automotive, microdisplay, VR/AR, graphene and flexible OLED markets. OLED-Info provides comprehensive niche OLED market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about the niche market, and can be useful if you want to understand how the OLED industry works and what this technology can provide for your own industry. The reports are now updated to March 2017.

The OLED for VR/AR Market Report:

• Why OLEDs are adopted in almost all VR HMDs
• What kind of displays are required for VR and AR applications
• What the future holds for the VR and AR markets
• Current and future VR and AR systems

The report package provides a great introduction to the emerging VR and AR market, and details the role that OLED displays will have. Read more here!

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Konica Minolta and Pioneer are in talks to merge their OLED lighting business. According to the report, the two companies are finalizing the agreement, and will setup a new 50:50 joint venture in the spring.

Both companies are producing OLEDs, and the two production facilities will still be owned by the parent companies - but the OLED R&D and sales operations and will be spun-off to a new company.

Luxury British automaker Bentley plans to add new cutting-edge technologies to its future cars - including plug-in hybrid engines and transparent OLEDs. One concept designs apparently shows a transparent OLED on top of wood veneers - so the display is invisible when not in use.

It's great to see another automaker looking into OLED displays - but this won't be easy to achieve in the near future as transparent OLEDs are not in production yet. Both LG Display and Samsung demonstrated transparent OLEDs for the automobile market, though - and of course it makes sense that high-end luxury cars will be the first to adopt these new displays.