Hosted by IDTechEx
Printed Electronics World
Posted on January 27, 2016 by  & 

Printed and flexible electronics in vehicles: a $5.5bn opportunity

Printed and flexible electronics are beginning to proliferate, with a variety of components and devices coming to market. Several end-user verticals are expected to benefit from the host of advantages these technologies offer and the automotive sector is no exception. Overall, the market is expected to grow to over $5.5 billion dollars in the next decade, spearheaded by the projected growth of in-mold electronics and OLED technologies, as discussed in the brand new IDTechEx Research report Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive Applications 2016-2026.
Fig 1. Printed and flexible electronics in automotive applications. Market value in $ millions. Source: IDTechEx report "Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive Applications 2016-2026 - Enabling technology toolkits, suppliers and market forecasts" www.IDTechEx.com/peauto.

OLED display technologies

OLED displays remain the biggest success of organic electronics. In particular, OLED has become the premium display technology for many consumer products such as smartphones, tablets, televisions, and wearables. The industry is now moving from glass substrates to plastic substrates following the trend towards flexible displays, with the two largest manufacturers, Samsung Display and LG Display, leading the charge and investing in new production lines. Aside from performance advantages that OLEDs bring to the table in terms of color gamut, contrast and power consumption, the benefits of flexible display integration in vehicles include lighter weight and robustness and in many cases, versatility in design and form factor. Moving ahead towards more complex applications than just small passive matrix OLED displays, leading automotive companies such as Audi are embracing active matrix OLEDs and the possibilities they enable, with sleek concepts allowing for demonstrations of where future OLED technologies are heading.
 
In later years, in addition to flexible OLED panels, transparent displays may also be adopted by the auto industry to transform the windows of vehicles into screens that display heads-up information for drivers. Samsung Display shared some interesting concepts based on augmented reality on its blog recently as shown below.
 
 
Inside of the car, the windscreen can display a host of useful contextual information such as vehicle speed, navigation instructions and location-based facts. Outside of the car, the rear windshield can be utilized to communicate safety warnings and other notifications to fellow motorists such as the vehicle's speed and signals for when the car is braking.
Fig 2. Augmented reality (AR) concepts integrated in vehicles, as envisaged by Samsung. Source: Samsung

In mold electronics (IME) set for fastest growth

In mold electronics (IME), a market of a few tens of millions in 2016 is expected to experience the biggest growth in the next decade, reaching almost a billion dollars by 2026.
 
The formation of car overhead consoles using in-mold electronics is a multi-step process that utilizes establishes manufacturing techniques and existing tools. Graphical and functional inks are screen printed, subsequently thermoformed to the desired shape, and finally molded in the final step. This approach to manufacturing overhead consoles and center-stacks in vehicles reduces weight and size, and also reduces the size and complexity of the PCBs integrated into vehicles, while affording ease of change in design with minimum or no re-tooling necessary.
 
 
Such benefits are already obvious to car manufacturers who are showing significant interest in adopting the technology, with first devices already in production: Canatu's CNB™ Touch Sensors are incorporated into a new automotive model for a yet unnamed North American customer of the company, with production and first deliveries having started in 2015.
 
Further information on the markets on IME and OLED technologies, along with a host of other technologies, including a range of sensors, thermal interface materials and conductive inks applications, can be found in the new IDTechEx report "Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive Applications 2016-2026 - Enabling technology toolkits, suppliers and market forecasts" www.IDTechEx.com/peauto.

About IDTechEx

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research and Events services, helping you profit from emerging technologies. We provide independent research, business intelligence and advice to companies across the value chain based on our core research activities and methodologies providing data sought by business leaders, strategists and emerging technology scouts to aid their business decisions.
 
 
Learn more at www.IDTechEx.com External Link.
 

IDTechEx Research Subscriptions

Subscription services allow you to access a wide range of our technology and market research on a given topic or across topics, providing you with unlimited access to new related content throughout the subscription period at tremendous value.
 
Explore our subscription packages at www.IDTechEx.com/subscriptions.
 
Contact Us

Authored By:

Principal Analyst

Posted on: January 27, 2016

More IDTechEx Journals