Challenge

Ford created the Reflex concept car for the 2006 North American International Auto Show. The car has a hybrid engine that harnesses diesel, electric and solar power, delivers an astounding 65 mpg and sprints from 0-60 mph in an estimated 6.5 sec. To compliment its energy efficient and environmentally friendly design, Ford needed a state-of-the-art display. Their search lead them to DuPont OLEDs because of the brightness, thin form factor, low power consumption, tolerance to low temperatures and visual impact of emerging OLED technology.

Solution

Continuing the long-standing tradition of collaboration between DuPont and Ford, teams from the two companies worked together beginning with the initial design stages to develop a visually striking and innovative application of OLED technology. The collaboration resulted in a prototype transparent blue OLED display that was shown as part of the instrument panel of the Ford Reflex concept car at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The state-of-the-art DuPont OLED display, located in the car’s instrument cluster, innovatively stacked two transparent OLEDs to create a unique three-dimensional effect that occurs when the key is inserted.

DuPont first demonstrated transparent OLED display technology at the 2005 Society for Information Display conference in Boston, Massachusetts. DuPont OLED technology is leading the industry with the recently announced achievement of high performance solution processing of small molecule OLED materials. With this development DuPont has demonstrated that OLEDs can be manufactured at high yields and low cost, bringing OLED technology closer to mainstream commercialization.

Industry insiders report that there is growing interest in the auto industry for the unique features that OLEDs offer including visual impact, low power consumption and thin design options not found with other technologies. OLEDs have already been included in a number of high-end vehicles and with the ongoing advances in OLED technology, production costs will eventually become affordable for mid-range vehicles as well.

For more information on DuPont OLEDs and how they can help your business, please call 1-805-562-9293.