In2visible Displays

Overview
Technology
Benefits

The (in)visible display solution from Continental

In2visible Displays – enabling a new era of puristic vehicle design and enhanced user experience. Although current and future cockpits are digital, immersive and provide an increasingly exciting user experience, they can benefit from being invisible at times.

Hiding control surfaces made of buttons, lights and switches behind device fronts is an ongoing trend in many areas and has already been applied to some extend in the automotive industry.

The idea behind the In2Visible Displays is to make complex technology and user guidance invisible when not needed, enabling interaction only on user demand. For example, instead of presenting ‘empty’ black display surfaces or numerous physical buttons, a (in)visible solution blends well into a puristic approach to cockpit design that creates a calm atmosphere by presenting a decorative surface.

Continental In2visible Display wins German Design Award 2022 in "Gold"

Technical Information

In principle, a In2visible Display can actually be a pillar-to-pillar solution, utilizing the full width of the dashboard, or it can also be introduced to create completely new interactive areas for drivers and passengers where displays traditionally were not in use before.

The information scope and the full range of control options – through touch and other interaction – is always there but the relevant content becomes visible on demand only.

Authentically printed foil with wood haptic and design
24x10 active-matrix LED illumination with local dimming high dynamic range with a light intensity of more than 800 cd/m².
LCD displays, InCell touch, 1920x720 pixels resolution
High brightness matrix backlight
Local Dimming Processing
Three 12.3” Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) TFT display for driver, center and passenger
No postcard effect

Benefits & Features

To activate a In2visible Display there are multimodal technical options which can be chosen to blend in with a specific interaction concept and model. For instance, a small part of the display could be permanently showing a landing icon to guide the driver’s or passenger’s hand to the display.

However, the display could simply remain invisible until it is touched by a fingertip. As an alternative, a capacitive sensor can detect an approaching hand at a convenient distance to activate the display in time, e.g., for a touch control operation.

Of course, voice control is another option. In that case, individual displays could respond to voice commands and interaction via natural language understanding (NLU) technology. Switching the display off can be initiated by touching a specific display area (virtual control button), by voice control or via gesture.