Windshield becomes a "screen" and roof canopy brings "atmosphere", Saint-Gobain demonstrates two new technologies

Have you ever thought that in addition to comfortable seats, high-quality audio, and satisfying in-car accessories, the automotive glass surrounding the entire vehicle can also become part of the "atmosphere" in the car? At the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2024, Saint-Gobain's automotive glass business brought two innovative technologies that redefined the role of automotive glass.

Public information shows that Saint-Gobain Automotive Glass is an automotive glass manufacturing brand under the French Saint-Gobain Group and is also a leading global automotive glass manufacturer. Since entering the Chinese market in 1995, Saint-Gobain Automotive Glass has been working closely with Chinese automakers to provide innovative glass products and related services.

Atmospheric lighting skylight technology

First, let's focus on the ambient lighting skylight technology. The ambient lighting skylight technology developed by Saint-Gobain Automotive Glass extends the ambient lighting elements in the cockpit to the top, providing the cockpit with a more three-dimensional themed night atmosphere and significantly improving the driving experience. This technology is not only rich in color and varied in pattern, but also provides designers with a wide range of design freedom in terms of luminous patterns, indicating that the automotive glass skylight will become an important part of the cabin theme ambient lighting.

Atmospheric lighting skylight technology

Next is the new generation of immersive projection display technology. Saint-Gobain Automotive Glass adds a special nano-material coating on the windshield surface to transform the black ink area that was originally used only to cover the installation traces into a high-quality projection display interface. This innovation makes the image display clear and high-contrast, providing new possibilities for the presentation of driving information, electronic exterior mirror images and other elements on the windshield, bringing an unprecedented interactive experience to the driver.

Next-generation immersive projection display technology

Next-generation immersive projection display technology

As the trend of electrification rises around the world, Chinese automakers are actively expanding overseas markets to better meet the needs of local markets. In this process, Saint-Gobain's automotive glass business can provide solutions for Chinese automakers going overseas and provide multi-faceted support for their expansion in the global market.

The confidence behind this comes from Saint-Gobain's deep global layout. It is reported that Saint-Gobain's business covers 76 countries and has about 900 production bases. Saint-Gobain's automotive glass business also has a wide business layout, with 34 production bases in 20 countries around the world. Especially in Asia, Europe and America, it has established a mature supply system to serve global brands and local brands.

It is worth mentioning that in order to meet the needs of the domestic high-end automobile market and further promote Saint-Gobain Group's strategic investment plan in China, Meizhou Saint-Gobain Automotive Glass Systems Co., Ltd. has successfully launched the high-end automobile glass production (Phase II) project not long ago. The project is jointly built by Saint-Gobain and GAC Group, and mainly produces low-radiation sunroof glass, front windshield with head-up display function and other products. It is the world's most automated and largest glass size intelligent automobile glass production line.

At the same time, Saint-Gobain is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Since 2017, while maintaining business growth, Saint-Gobain has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions in China by 73% and non-recyclable waste by 94%. Saint-Gobain's automotive glass business has also set ambitious sustainable development goals. By 2030, it plans to reduce global local carbon emissions to less than 1% of 2019 levels, while reducing water consumption per unit of production to less than half of the 2019 level and achieving a non-recycling rate of major production raw materials below 1%. In China, Saint-Gobain is actively promoting these goals, planning to achieve carbon emission targets in 2025 and water conservation targets in 2024, while the phased goal of waste recycling has been achieved ahead of schedule in 2023.