Not content with presenting drivers with a dizzying array of digital displays inside its Hyperscreen-equipped cars, it seems Mercedes now wants people on the outside to get in on the screen-heavy action.
The German manufacturer says it’s working on a technology called ‘Display in Glass’. This involves LED elements embedded within the car’s windows that are invisible when not activated, but when in use could display things like traffic information, brake lights and warning signs to following traffic.
This application involves mini LEDs, which Mercedes says are well suited to bigger display areas like a car’s rear window. LEDs, on the other hand, could be used for “sophisticated visual displays on smaller display areas, such as animations”. Again, when they’re off, it’ll be just like looking through a normal pane of glass.
Mercedes Holo Display head-up display
Another technology Mercedes is cooking up could actually be a solution to its display-festooned dashboards. The ‘Holo Display’ technology is best thought of as a development of the head-up display, combining a projector with a transparent film laminated into the windscreen.
That film contains holographic optical elements, which “selectively reflect the wavelengths of light emitted by the projector”. It’s able to display much more detailed images than a traditional HUD, including video. The content can only be viewed from certain angles, so the driver won’t be distracted by a movie being played on the passenger side, for example, while the passenger won’t have to look at the driver’s navigation display. As with the LED tech, the embedded film is invisible when not in use.
New tech for smaller, lighter EV batteries
While announcing these two innovations, Mercedes also revealed something completely different to screens - a new kind of power converter for high-voltage batteries. It controls the flow of energy to individual battery cells, giving a constant output of up to 800 volts no matter the charge state or age of the battery.
This opens up more flexibility in the design of battery packs and the associated electronics, and could make everything smaller and more modular, the latter being good news for making both full EV and plug-in hybrid battery packs. There are potential range and efficiency benefits, too.
Ida Wolf, who has the lengthy job title of ‘vice president, development innovations, operations and digitalisation’, said:
“The future of mobility is not created through promises, but through precision and proven engineering excellence. With innovations that offer clear benefits in our customers’ everyday lives, we are shaping the mobility of tomorrow – continuously, consistently and with a clear focus on the future.”
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