Visual & Display Technologies

Automotive IQ interviewed Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Blankenbach, R&D Manager at Electronic Displays, on the success criterias for automotive display and the most important developments regarding visual technology. Mr. Blankenbach, what is the focus of your work these days?

Display systems and evaluation like for automotive use. One major topic is measurements like ambient light degradations and curved displays. We have developed image enhancement algorithms to raise readability in bright light just by software.

Digital signage is one of the key applications in the display technology market and we have witnessed huge transformation in the last few years. What’s your perspective on this?

Digital Signage is display and content driven. Displays have to deal with 24h operation and ambient light while content shows the rivalry of software and AV companies.

What makes an automotive display (e.g. central control unit) successful?

Perceived value for display hardware and HMI content. The challenge is to meet automotive requirements and keeping pace with CE displays.

What kind of testing is required for today’s car displays?

Displays have to fulfill all standard automotive tests for electric, electronic and mechanical devices. Beyond that, readability especially at bright light conditions must be taken seriously

What do you think will be the most important development regarding visual and display technology in automotive?

Automotive displays follow consumer trends. Therefore it is challenging to meet customer expectations and automotive quality standards within an appropriate timeline.

Do you have selected references you would like to share?

K. Blankenbach, A. Marsal, A. Sycev: “Comparison of Key Optical Measurements of Curved to Flat LCD TVs and Their Impact on Image Quality”, Society for Information Display, International Symposium 2015 San José, Digest of Technical Papers, ISSN 2154-6738, 4 p., 6/2015

K. Blankenbach, A. Sycev, S. Kurbatfinski, M. Zobl: „Optimization and Evaluation of Automotive Displays under Bright Ambient Light using Novel Image Enhancement Algorithms”, Journal of the Society for Information Display (JSID), Volume 22, Issue 5, pages 267–279, May 2014