LAS VEGAS -- Now that infotainment systems are nearly ubiquitous, the cockpit screens that display all that information have become a growth industry.
Through 2021, global revenue from center console displays, instrument clusters and head-up displays is expected to grow more than 11 percent annually, IHS Automotive predicts.
By the end of 2021, IHS says, global revenue from automotive display systems is expected to total $18.6 billion, adding nearly $9 billion in annual revenue compared with 2015.
The market for cockpit displays “will see some amazing growth and innovation through the end of the decade,” IHS analyst Mark Boyadjis said in a statement.
IHS expects the global production rate for head-up displays will jump more than 65 percent by 2021 to more than 6 million units annually.
But in 2021, instrument clusters and center stack displays will continue to account for more than 90 percent of the segment revenues. And suppliers are eager to tap that segment by upgrading their wares.
For example, suppliers are adding haptic features to center console screens that allow the user to “feel” a virtual button when they push it. Likewise, instrument clusters -- once little more than an analog speedometer and fuel gauge -- are getting a complete makeover.
Suppliers are rolling out reconfigurable instrument clusters that display not only the vehicle’s speed but also navigation routes, music selections and phone numbers.
New generations of graphics chips -- originally designed for computer gaming -- can create sharp images that look as solid as any metal-and-glass speedo. Inside the cluster, layers of glass and filters project the image, creating a feeling of depth.
An example of the genre is a cluster that Delphi Automotive designed for a Ford Mustang GT concept to be shown this week in Las Vegas.
With the aid of a New Zealand company called PureDepth, Delphi designed a cluster that lets the driver opt for track readouts, turn-by-turn navigation, media or simply speed and rpms.
To give the concept a twist, Delphi also allows the passenger to monitor the driver’s performance via screens on the dash.
For example, the readout allows the passenger to compare the driver’s lap times with his previous circuits. The screen also monitors G-forces and displays the car’s current location on the track.
Glen De Vos, Delphi’s vice president of engineering, says automakers and suppliers are taking their lead from the gaming industry, which has pioneered graphics technology.
“Video games, arcades, the gaming industry and even Hollywood — this is where the pioneers in graphics go to show their stuff,” De Vos said in a written statement. “We wanted some of that multi-dimensional look in a car.”
