OLEDs are mainly in the realm of the future. But even today, we can already see several interesting applications for OLEDs in vehicles. Windshield transparent OLEDs, internal and external lighting and backglass alerts and messaging—see the EDAG prototype in our Geneva report at www.drivinVisionNews.com.
| |
Currently we know of one car model that includes OLED displays; the Lexus 2010 RX has a white OLED display supplementing the main display. There’s a new VW hybrid concept car, the L1. It uses an OLED display (or two; details are sketchy yet) in the dashboard. They say this car will actually be available in 2010, in small volumes.
VW L1 concept car dashboard
Another interesting development comes from Novaled, who are working with European car makers on interior OLED lighting solutions. They say a car with their panels might be on the market by 2012! Several German companies are working on a project called CARO (CAR-OLED). The object is to develop OLEDs specifically for the car industry. Recently they have shown an interesting steering wheel concept incorporating a white OLED so thin it does not affect the basic design of the wheel, so even the airbag stays the same.
There are several concept and prototype cars with OLED displays. Perhaps the most interesting is the open-source light car by EDAG, which communicates with other drivers using a system of OLED lights, is covered with OLED panels—including the front and rear lights—and includes an all-OLED dashboard.
