Visteon, an automotive cockpit electronics technology company, has launched what it describes as its “breakthrough” microZone display technology.
The virtual dashboard element is said to offer offers “significantly higher graphics performance” than traditional LCD displays.
This new, patent-pending high-dynamic range display technology offers high contrast and brightness and wide color gamut that enables automotive displays to achieve parity with consumer mobile devices with life-like imaging capability.
Designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of more energy-efficient, cost-effective digital display solutions, microZone is considered the first automotive display to offer “superior optical performance without sacrificing automotive reliability”.
Since it is based on mature LCD technology, it passes rigorous automotive qualification requirements without susceptibility to burn-in.
Sachin Lawande, president and CEO, Visteon, says: “Next-generation automotive cockpit displays need optical performance that is competitive with mobile devices that consumers have come to expect.
“MicroZone is the first display technology that offers premium optical performance at a competitive price point for automakers, without sacrificing reliability or life-span.
“In that sense, microZone is an effective alternative to OLED for automakers.”
MicroZone offers the following next-generation display performance requirements:
Wide Color Gamut: Today’s automotive displays achieve 75-85 percent of the NTSC (National Television System Committee) color space. MicroZone can render more saturated colors, up to 110 percent NTSC.
A wider color gamut enables microZone technology to reproduce a greater range of the visible color spectrum, and is compliant with the DCI-P3 color standard for HD.
High Contrast Ratio: Legacy LCD contrast ratio maxes out at approximately 1,500:1, and black is never really black. The microZone contrast ratio is at least 100,000:1, which is about 65-70 times higher than a typical LCD screen.
High Brightness: With OLED technology, displays max out at approximately 600 candelas per square meter (brightness level). By comparison, microZone can achieve brightness comparable to a traditional LCD technology.
MicroZone can meet these performance targets at a power consumption on par with traditional LCD technology due to key enabling innovations developed in-house at Visteon.
Qais Sharif, vice president, display product line, Visteon, says: “MicroZone surpasses traditional display technologies across several critical categories, including color gamut, contrast and brightness levels.
“This is especially important as vehicle manufacturers look for new ways to reduce power consumption in the cockpit without compromising color contrast, quality and brightness.”
