Cars are becoming less and less like cars.
At present, the automotive industry is developing in the direction of "new four modernizations". The so-called new four modernizations, that is, electrification, networking, intelligence, and sharing- based on "electrification" and collecting big data with "networking" as the link, and finally realizing the "intelligent" and "shared" travel mode. Under this trend, people are shocked to realize that cars are no longer just a means of transportation, but more and more have the attributes of digital products.
On the other hand, as an important medium for human-vehicle interaction, an important embodiment of the futuristic sense of automobile and the sense of science and technology, the car screen is also showing the development trend of large screen, multi-screen, high-definition, interaction, low energy consumption, multi-form, etc. The car screen has become the fifth largest medium and small size panel market after mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and Monitor.
However, which technical solution should be adopted for future on-board screens is still inconclusive.
LCD is now, who is the future?
LCD as a mature display technology, has now established a relatively complete standard system, stable quality, and production capacity is guaranteed, cost advantages are obvious, is the current mainstream technology of car screen.
However, with the advent of the "new four modernizations" of automobiles, LCD technology cannot meet the demand for display systems in high-end cars due to the shortcomings of insufficient brightness output, fast temperature rise and limited visual effects. In this context, OLED, MiniLED, micro LED began to highlight the technical advantages, to the car screen to launch an offensive horn.
Each of the three technologies has advantages and disadvantages. Among them, OLED is an organic self-luminous display technology, with good display effect, low power consumption, high flexibility and ultra-thin and other advantages, has been applied in high-end cars, such as the 2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan will be the original one-piece central control screen into a waterfall-type large screen, using 12.8-inch waterfall OLED screen; Mercedes-Benz EQS adopts an integrated large screen from A-pillar to A-pillar, and the touch screen is flexible OLED.
The main suppliers of OLED car screens are Samsung, LGDisplay, BOE and so on. However, after years of development, OLED has still not been able to solve the problem of burning screens, and the life of OLED blue light is generally low, hindering the further development of OLED screens in the field of vehicles.
The MiniLED can be used with a flexible substrate to achieve curved display design, improve the brightness and contrast of the screen, and add flexibility to the design of the screen. However, MiniLED technology is relatively thick compared to OLED technology and cannot be bent significantly.
It should be noted that the MiniLED technology suitable for application to the car screen is the MiniLED backlight technology, not the MiniLED direct display technology. This is mainly because the viewing distance of the car screen is closer, while the spacing of the MiniLED direct display technology is larger, and the pixels are more obvious when viewed at close range. The LED display solution of the car screen needs to reach the Micro level.
Micro LED is a miniature and matrix LED technology that has greater advantages in terms of brightness, resolution, contrast, energy consumption, service life, response speed and thermal stability. However, Micro LED technology is difficult, the yield rate is low, the price is high, and it has not yet reached the standard of mass production.
Vehicle-mounted displays require high brightness, long life, fast reaction time, high and low temperature range, and high and low temperature ranges, which require high display technology. As far as the current level of development is concerned, OLED, MiniLED backlight, Micro LED three technologies have certain limitations, but in comparison, OLED technology is now popular, is a high maturity of the technology, and MiniLED backlight, Micro LED is still in the early stage of the industry, product performance has a large room for improvement, and production costs are also expected to continue to decline, growth can be expected, so become the future of the car display technology "popular player", by capital and technology high hopes.
MiniLED backlight, Micro LED small step fast running
Related companies are accelerating the layout of automotive MiniLED backlight and Micro LED technology. According to LEDinside incomplete statistics, the automotive MiniLED backlight, Micro LED mainstream suppliers and recent situation are as follows:
It can be seen that whether it is an international company or a Chinese enterprise, whether it is a panel manufacturer or a traditional LED manufacturer, it is actively laying out the automotive Mini LED backlight, Micro LED technology and products.
On the other hand, due to the technical difficulty, industrial chain enterprises are also overcoming industrial problems through win-win cooperation.
Among them, Shentianma held the "2021 Micro LED Ecological Alliance Conference" in December 2021. At the meeting, Shenzhen Tianma joined hands with upstream suppliers, downstream car companies and university research institutions to form the Micro LED Ecological Alliance to accelerate the application of MicroLED in the field of automotive display. At the event site, Shentianma also released a number of new products such as Micro LED screen with a bending radius of 5 mm, Micro LED screen with a transparency rate of more than 70%, Micro LED splicing unit screen, and vehicle specification-level high-resolution Micro LED screen.
Shen Tianma has also established a close cooperative relationship with Tin Chuang. In 2019, Shentianma showcased a 7.56-inch AM Micro LED display with a transmittance of more than 60% at SID Display Week 2019; at opto Taiwan 2021, Zi Chuang displayed an 11.6-inch micro LED display for vehicles. Both products are jointly developed by both parties.
In addition, in April 2020, It also reached a cooperation with AUO to invest in the research and development of Micro LED display technology, and in December 2020, signed a four-year long-term cooperation plan with the Institute of Taiwan Engineering and Research to focus on the application of Micro LED in AR, MR devices and in-vehicle panels.
Longli Technology has also ushered in allies in the field of panels. In April 2021, the joint innovation laboratory for the development of small and medium-sized display technology jointly built by Wuhan Huaxing and Longli Technology was officially inaugurated. The Joint Innovation Lab is committed to the research and development of backlight display industry cutting-edge technology, focusing on the development of MiniLED technology, the application areas of products include mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, car, VR and AR wearable displays.
Also as a panel company, BOE formed a joint venture with Rohinni in 2019, BOEPixey, to develop Micro LED solutions for display backlighting, initially for large consumer electronics (more than 32 inches), industrial and automotive markets.
epilogue
For Mini/Micro LED supply chain enterprises, the niche application product of the vehicle screen, although the certification time is longer, the product life cycle is longer, the technical content is high, and the profit margin is high, which is the "must fight for the soldiers" of the supply chain enterprises.
However, Micro LED technology is too difficult, there is no production car equipped with Micro LED technology, and MiniLED is already on the eve of application, such as the Weilai ET7 officially released in January 2021, which uses BOE (BOE) 10.2-inch HDR Mini LED backlit digital instrument.
In addition, miniLED screens can also be applied to the exterior of the car, adding fun to the design of the car. The first model of the great wall brand salon, the Mecha Dragon, was officially unveiled in November 2021. The rear of this model adopts smart taillights equipped with MiniLED display technology, which can freely define the content of the display.
The car screen becomes a key for Mini/Micro LED to open up space for growth. It is conceivable that when the Mini/Micro LED further matures, especially when the Micro LED breaks through the bottleneck of existing technology, it will become a strong competitor in the OLED automotive display market. (Text: LEDinside Lynn)
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