More Advanced Safety Features Drive Demand for Dashboard Screens: DisplaySearch

With more safety features that require a higher level of driver monitoring, the demand for multifunction thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels in automotive instrument clusters is accelerating. In fact, shipments of TFT-LCD panels for auto instrument clusters are expected to grow 48% to 30.2 million units in 2014 and further to 50 million units in 2018, according to the latest DisplaySearch Automotive Displays Report.

“Formerly a concept found only in science fiction, safety functions like emergency stop and active lane control are becoming more commonplace, and automatic electronic control of automobiles is now a reality," said Hiroshi Hayase, vice president of small/medium displays for DisplaySearch. "With leading-edge features like fully automatic driving on the horizon, and with growing requirements to actively monitor safety and ecological functions, multifunctional TFT-LCD instrument clusters could soon resemble glass cockpits."

Growing automotive demand for TFT-LCD panels for auto instrument clusters is led mainly by the United States, the European Union (EU), Japan, and other developed regions. In the first half of 2014, Continental AG of Germany, an international tier-1 auto-parts supplier, was the top purchaser of instrument cluster TFT-LCD panels, followed by the American automaker Ford and the Japanese parts supplier Nippon Seiki.

Many major international TFT-LCD panel makers have been trying to widen their profit margins by escaping fierce price-cutting competition in the 3C (computers, communications, and consumer electronics) panel market; most of them may opt to move first into automotive products, which have been enjoying a rapid growth in demand thanks to the adoption of increasingly advanced automotive-electronics and infotainment systems.

Taiwanese TFT-LCD makers Innolux Display Corp. and AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) have already tapped into the supply chains of international automakers, exporting displays mainly to customers in Germany and the U.S.