11 Capabilities Needed for Smart Car Instrument Clusters

With the advancement of autonomous driving technology, the concept of smart cars is gradually gaining popularity. As the third space of future life, the car smart cockpit needs to give consumers a better immersive experience. The display screen is the main interface for occupants to obtain vehicle and related information, and will become an important window for human-computer interaction in an immersive cockpit experience.

Concept cockpit presented by JDI at CIAPE

For consumers who are accustomed to the experience of using consumer electronics such as mobile phones and tablets, a better display effect of the car display will definitely become one of the rigid needs. But what are the specific performances of this rigid demand? Here we will do a simple discussion.

The comparison between the mini LED backlight and the traditional LCD display was taken at the Tianma booth.

According to the research of some manufacturers, the car display screen needs to have at least the following basic qualities:

1. High temperature resistance. Since the vehicle may be driven in different seasons and at different latitudes, the on-board display needs to be able to work normally in a wide temperature range. Therefore, temperature resistance is a basic quality. The current industry requirement is that the display screen as a whole should reach -40~85°C

2. Long service life. Simply put, an on-board display must support a design and production cycle of at least five years, which should be extendable to 10 years due to vehicle warranty reasons. Ultimately, the life of the display should be at least as long as the life of the vehicle.

3. High brightness. It is crucial that the driver can easily read the information on the display in different ambient light conditions, from bright sunlight to complete darkness.

4. Wide viewing angle. Both the driver and passengers (including those in the rear seat) should be able to see the center console display screen.

5. High resolution. High resolution means that there are more pixels per unit area, and the overall picture is clearer.

6. High contrast. The contrast value is defined as the ratio of the maximum brightness value (full white) divided by the minimum brightness value (full black).

Generally speaking, the minimum contrast value acceptable to the human eye is about 250:1. High contrast is good for seeing the display clearly in bright light.

7. High dynamic HDR. The display quality of the picture needs a comprehensive balance, especially the realistic feeling and sense of coordination of the image. This concept is HDR (High Dynamic Range), and its actual effect is the moon in bright places, darker in dark places, and the details of bright and dark places are well displayed.

8. Wide color gamut. High-resolution displays may need to be upgraded from 18-bit red-green-blue (RGB) to 24-bit RGB to achieve a wider color gamut. High color gamut is a very important indicator to improve the display effect.

The image with wide color gamut on the right is much more delicate and rich than the one on the left.

It can be seen that the larger the area of the triangle, the larger the color gamut index, the richer the color content expressed, and the richer the image content. The larger the triangle area, that is, the closer the three vertices are to the side, that is, the RGB pure color needs more pure.

Other features may include:

9. Fast response time and refresh rate. Smart cars, especially autonomous driving, need to collect road information in real time and remind the driver in a timely manner at critical times. Quick response and refresh to avoid lag in information delivery is critical for warning indicators and navigation features such as live maps, traffic updates and backup cameras.

10. Anti-glare and reduce reflection. In-vehicle displays provide critical vehicle information to the driver and need to not compromise visibility due to ambient light conditions, especially during the day with heavy sunlight and traffic. Of course, the anti-glare coating on its surface must not impede visibility (needed to eliminate "flicker" distractions).

11. Low energy consumption. The significance of low energy consumption is that it can reduce the energy consumption of vehicles, especially for new energy vehicles, which can use more electric energy for mileage; in addition, low energy consumption means reducing heat dissipation pressure, which has positive significance for the whole vehicle.

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