CES 2024 may be AI's big coming-out party but the sexiest beast at the show may well be all the car technology and the innovations built around it.
There will be loads of electric vehicles and mashups of seemingly unrelated technologies like electric vehicles and in-car AR systems. The EVs will also be transforming from simply all-electric mobility platforms to Software-Defined Vehicles or SDVs. These are cars that have more in common with your laptop or smartphone than they do the classic gas-powered automobiles of the past.
An SDV can expect over-the-air updates that can redefine the driving experience. Technologies that take advantage of this new fungibility will take center stage at CES 2024. LG Display (which is basically the display supplier for LG Electronics and a lot of other screen-based technology makers) revealed its latest in-car display systems and they are all about the SDVs.
I got a glimpse of some of the P-OLED-based systems last year, but CES 2024 marks a turning point for the in-car technology. The flexible displays are bigger than ever and have a few more visual tricks up their sleeves.
During CES 2024, which runs January 9-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada, LG Display will unveil a selection of lightweight and flexible displays that will live in large, overhead, slideaway screens for rear-seat passengers, and in full-dash coverings that can show car stats on one side and entertainment to the passenger on the other.
Displays that cover curved surfaces like the dash will be P-OLED, which means OLED screens on a flexible plastic substrate. Others will be based on LG Display's Thin OLED technology (there may also be some old-school LCD displays in there, too). OLED-based technology, though, should work especially well in cars thanks to its darker blacks (higher contrast) and clearer colors. All of it might help the displays hold up to stronger outdoor sunlight.
My natural question would be about screening the latest Batman movie on the passenger side without distracting the driver. LG Display's latest update, "switchable privacy Mode" (SPM), however, makes it so the driver doesn't see the distracting images on the passenger side. LG display describes it as "diverting away" the image from the driver's side, which is a bit unclear. Are they using some sort of lenticular technology? We should get a better idea of what LG display uses here when we see it in person.
In addition to all the panel-covering displays, LG Display will show off more slide-away and foldable in-car screen technologies. Most of the screens should be touch-enabled.
One broad benefit of bringing together SDVs with all this screen real estate is that no one has to permanently define what each screen will do. If a manufacturer covers the interior of her latest EV with screens across every surface of the car, she can always redefine their purpose with a software update.
Check out our CES 2024 hub for all the latest news from the show as it happens. We'll be covering everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI, so stick with us for the big stories.
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