Smart Cockpit Display Technology Trends

According to different placement positions, the in-vehicle display screen can be divided into the central control display screen, LCD instrument panel, head-up display, co-pilot and rear seat entertainment screen, side view screen, rearview mirror screen, etc. The in-vehicle display refers to the display screen installed inside the car, and its main functions are driving assistance and entertainment. Among them, the central control display screen (provides driving assistance such as reversing images and navigation, controls air conditioning, audio and other in-vehicle equipment, and has entertainment functions) and the LCD instrument panel (provides mileage, speed, fuel and other information to reflect the working status of the vehicle) have the highest penetration rate. In recent years, as the trend of automobile electrification, intelligence and networking continues, the in-vehicle display screen, as the main interface for human-vehicle interaction, is showing a trend of high-end and large screens.

High-end car display screen

In-vehicle display screens are accelerating their high-end development: mainly manifested in the integration of display and touch display in structure, the change of materials from plastic to glass, and the change of appearance from 2D to 3D curved surface. We have seen that in recent years, with the upgrading of consumption and the continuous development of in-vehicle intelligence, in-vehicle displays are developing towards high-end development in many aspects:

In terms of structure, it has developed from simple display to integrated touch display. With the trend of automobile intelligence, the demand for human-vehicle interaction has increased significantly compared to traditional cars, and touch panels have gradually entered the in-vehicle display market and become standard. From the perspective of technology, the current touch screens are mainly capacitive screens. We expect that capacitive screens will develop in the direction of lightness and thinness in the future, further replacing resistive screens. In addition, in order to achieve lightness and thinness of the screen and improve the screen display effect, we expect that full lamination technology will be further applied in the future, which will promote the continuous penetration of integrated touch display products.

In terms of materials, the vehicle cover has evolved from plastic to glass. In traditional cars, due to the low rate of smart device installation, low-cost plastic cover can meet some vehicle display needs (but there are disadvantages of poor texture and low hardness). Under the trend of automobile intelligence, with the increase in demand for vehicle display and human-vehicle interaction, glass materials with high light transmittance, scratch resistance, better touch feel and relatively easy to make into 3D structure have begun to become the preferred cover material for vehicle display panels.

From the perspective of technical requirements, automotive-grade glass not only needs to consider functional issues such as pressure sensitivity, touch, and vibration feedback, but also more difficult safety issues. For example, it needs to pass the head impact test (no splashing under impact to avoid secondary injury to the occupants) and meet the anti-glare performance standards (to achieve anti-reflection and glare effects).

In recent years, upstream optoelectronic glass manufacturers have actively deployed automotive glass production lines. In 2013, Asahi Glass established the world's first automotive display screen glass production system to produce, process and sell glass cover products; in 2018, Corning established Corning Automotive Glass Systems (Hefei) Co., Ltd., which is the world's first touch panel manufacturer to apply Corning Gorilla Glass to automotive interiors; in 2019, Asahi Glass (AGC) established a new factory in Suzhou to produce large 3D and complex-shaped screen glass for automotive displays.

In the future, we believe that as the safety performance of glass is further improved and the supply of automotive glass gradually increases, automotive glass cover plates are expected to continue to penetrate the market with trends such as large size and 3D curves.

In terms of appearance, automotive glass cover has developed from 2D to 2.5D and 3D. Compared with traditional 2D flat screens, the advantages of 3D display screens are:

(1) Improve design freedom: For designers, curved screens can better realize designs, enhance the sense of design and technology, and save more space in the cockpit.

(2) More ergonomic: The 3D curved screen can achieve better display effects and best adapt to the driver's field of vision.

(3) Optimizing tactile feedback: Compared with flat screens, curved surfaces can provide users with more optimized tactile feedback. As the cover glass that matches the screen, the curved surface and flexible display of the car screen also put forward higher requirements for the flexibility of the glass cover. Overall, due to cost and technical factors, the penetration rate of car 3D cover is still low, but we have also seen that some companies have begun to gradually put into production.

In July 2019, Corning's first large-size automotive-grade interior glass factory was officially put into production in China. In order to solve the high cost problem of traditional 3D glass hot bending process, Corning developed cold bending and bonding technology, which only needs to be processed at room temperature, greatly reducing the difficulty and cost of production and processing, but the technology still needs to be developed. In the future, we are optimistic about the further development of curved screens for automobiles. It is expected that with the further improvement of the maturity of 3D glass forming technology, the penetration rate of automotive 3D glass cover products is expected to further increase.

In-vehicle display screens are accelerating towards larger screens: increasing information and interactive experience, multiple screens + linked screens going hand in hand, and the screen area of ​​a single vehicle continuing to rise.

In recent years, with the continuous development of smart cockpits, the area of ​​in-vehicle display screens has gradually increased. According to Omdia data, global shipments of in-vehicle displays in 2020 were 136.25 million units (-16% year-on-year), of which large-size in-vehicle displays above 10 inches shipped 30.85 million units (+32.7% year-on-year), accounting for 22.6%. According to Qunzhi Consulting, as of Q2 2021, shipments of in-vehicle displays above 10 inches accounted for 31%. Specifically in terms of trends, we believe that the multi-screen and connected-screen trends of automotive displays have jointly boosted the increase in the display area of ​​a single vehicle, respectively:

Judging from the models, new energy vehicles are more radical in terms of smart cockpits, usually equipped with larger screens (a typical example is Byton K·Byte, which is equipped with a 49-inch central control screen with great visual impact), and traditional car companies are also following suit quickly.

Multi-screen trend: meet multi-faceted information and interaction needs and enhance user driving control experience.

In the context of intelligent cockpits, the rapid increase in the amount of car information has made the in-car information display area the core, and multi-screen interaction has become an important trend in car displays. At present, the main in-vehicle display devices are central control display screens and instrument display screens (with a relatively high penetration rate). In addition, windshield composite head-up display screens, virtual electronic rearview mirror display screens, and rear seat entertainment display screens are becoming new directions for the development of in-vehicle displays. Compared with a single display screen, a multi-screen solution can display car information on various screens in a distributed manner, such as placing navigation, multimedia and other information on one or two screens, and placing vehicle information such as seats, air conditioning, and ADAS on another screen, so as to meet users' needs in navigation, music, road conditions, and other aspects as much as possible, and improve the driving experience.

According to Zos Automotive Research, as of Q1 2020, the multi-screen assembly rate of China's central control screens reached 1.2%, up 0.9% year-on-year. According to TouBao Research Institute data, the average number of screens installed on a single vehicle in China increased from 1.4 to 1.75 from 2016 to 2019 (corresponding to a CAGR of 7.7% from 2016 to 2019). StrategyAnalytics is optimistic about the trend of multi-screen cars and expects that some high-end cars may be equipped with 10 screens in the future. Limited by cost pressure, most mainstream models are currently equipped with 2 in-vehicle displays, and only a few high-end models are equipped with 3 displays. We are optimistic about the trend of multi-screen cars, and we expect that as screen costs decrease in the future, in-vehicle display screens with low penetration rates such as electronic instrument panels, electronic rearview mirrors, and rear-seat entertainment systems are expected to penetrate further.

The trend of connected screens: combining practicality and a sense of technology. Mercedes-Benz was the first to install it in 2016, and since then, dual-screen and triple-screen solutions have been gradually implemented.

A major disadvantage of the traditional central control screen is that it is far away from the instrument panel, which requires the driver to divert more attention during use. In the dual-screen solution, the instrument panel and the central control dual-screen share a glass cover, which visually weakens the physical separation between the two display screens and makes it more convenient for the driver to touch and obtain information. From the perspective of terminal applications, the 2016 Mercedes-Benz E-Class was the first to be equipped with a 12.3-inch + 12.3-inch dual-screen solution, and since then, various manufacturers have successively launched dual-screen and triple-screen solutions.