Automotive

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced that it plans to double its microLED manufacturing space. VueReal says that its upgraded and expanded facilities serve as both a production center for its customers and also as a blueprint for its partners to build their own fabs.

VueReal is currently offering microLED display production for the automotive market, and it is now also entering the consumer market, targeting wearable devices, TVs, IT applications, and AR products with its MicroSolid Printing platform. 

We're happy to interview Tobias Steinel Ph.D., works as a product manager at Instrument Systems GmbH, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. Germany based Instrument Systems manufacturers high-precision spectrometers, complex systems and software solutions for spectral light measurements.

Tobias is responsible for Instrument Systems’ measurement portfolio in the field of microLED optical testing and AR/VR/MR applications.

Can you please introduce your company and technology? 

With facilities in Munich and Berlin, Germany, Instrument Systems develops and produces high-end light measurement technology for flat panel displays, micro-displays, near-to-eye displays, automotive lighting, VCSEL systems and LED/SSL modules. Our color and light measurement solutions are used in display production sites worldwide. In addition to the manufacture of measuring equipment, our core competence is that our accredited test laboratory guarantees independent, reliable and comparable measurement results for every measuring device purchased. These can be traced back directly to the reference standards of national metrology institutes.

Tianma shows several MicroLEDs prototypes at Displayweek 2024, including automotive displays, transparent displays, and wearable ones.

The first display was an automotive, a transparent 8.07-inch octagon-shaped display aimed towards digital side mirror applications (to be placed inside the vehicle). The display offers a transparency of 55%, a resolution of 608x1204 (167 PPI) and a brightness of 1,500 nits.

Innolux showed several new microLED display prototypes at Displayweek 2024, as it focuses on microLEDs as its next-generation display solution.

First, the company showcased a large 106" tiled microLED TV display, build from 96 12.3" modules. The display uses 20x40 um blue microLED chips (with QD color conversion) and an LTPS backplane.

At Displayweek 2024, TCL CSoT demonstrated its impressive 163-inch 4K (0.9375 mm pitch) tiled MicroLED display on show, that offered very high brightness (10,000 nits).

TCL says that the display has a 'nanosecond' response time, and its lifetime rating is over 100,000 hours. This is TCL's X11H Max commercial MicroLED TV, priced at $110,000.

AUO had an impressive booth at Displayweek, showing some of its latest microLED prototypes. It is clear that the company is highly focused on microLED technology as its next-gen display strategy.

First up, with a 31" large area single-panel microLED, which AUO says is the world's largest. The display is produced on a single glass LTPS backplane, and offers 120Hz and a brightness of 500 nits. AUO calls this a Large Size A.R.T. MicroLED display.

Taiwan-based Innolux demonstrated new microLED display prototypes: a wide 187-inch microLED tiled display, a 9.6" flexible automotive microLED prototype and a transparent microLED.

Innolux did not detail much about these new prototypes. All of its microLEDs are based on blue microLEDs with quantum dot color conversion, and LTPS backplanes on glass substrates. 

Last week during Touch Taiwan 2024, AUO demonstrated several new (and not new) microLED display prototypes. The company released this short video showing the displays in action:

AUO showed its large-area (60") microLED displays, its automotive microLED solutions (including transparent automotive displays), a 30" real-depth 3D microLED display for entertainment applications, medical-grade displays and a 31" microLED display that is a single panel (not a tiled display) - which AUO says is the world largest.

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a partnership with automotive supplier Continental to showcase innovative automotive display designs based on VueReal's microLED technology.

VueReal did not say much about this joint project with Continental, but it is likely that Continental will develop and demonstrate microLED-based automotive displays based using displays provided by VueReal. In January 2024 Continental demonstrated its first microLED automotive display prototype, the CrystalCenter Display which is based on a 10" microLED display, but we do not know whether it was supplied by VueReal or a different microLED developer.