Demand for Safety and AI Now Defines Automotive Displays

By Qais Sharif, SVP & General Manager, Americas, Visteon

Automotive displays are at the forefront of a broader technological transformation reshaping how we interact with the world. The digital cockpit has already moved from small displays and hybrid clusters to large multi-screen configurations - driven by demand for safety and connectivity. Visteon led that shift, developing the first full digital cluster in 2013.

Advances in ADAS and in-vehicle entertainment are driving demand for higher-performance, larger displays. OEMs want immersive, intuitive solutions for both drivers and passengers. Large multi-display designs are now standard across mass-market and premium vehicles; pillar-to-pillar configurations define the luxury tier. Even cost-sensitive markets like India are adopting them.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the automotive display market was approximately $28 billion in 2026 and is forecast to reach $44 billion by 2031 - a 9.57% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in an industry not known for that kind of growth. Displays above 10 inches are growing at 11.14% CAGR; commercial vehicles at 11.67%. These are not incremental numbers. They reflect a structural reconfiguration of what a vehicle is and what it is expected to do.

At Visteon, our new display business wins in 2025 were approximately $3.5 billion. That number reflects a strategic decision made early - to build display as a dedicated product line, not treat it as a derivative of something else.

The Interface Has Become the Experience

The question OEMs are now pondering is not how many displays to put in a car. User experience, branding, and AI will determine the type, size, shape, and number of displays - not the other way around.

The digital cockpit will continue to evolve. AI and intelligent autonomous driving are the foundation for that evolution. As these technologies progress, agentic AI will be integrated more deeply into the cockpit to enhance the driving experience and safety.

For most privately owned vehicles, S&P Global Mobility forecasts vehicle's ADAS will remain concentrated at L2 and L2++ through 2037, due to cost.

Although robo-taxis are now available, large-scale deployment is still hampered by high production costs and geographical restrictions.

The NVIDIA Alpamayo Autonomous Driving is setting the standards for safety for human like drive experience. It is an end-to-end scalable Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model - a system that thinks, reasons, and drives, processing multi-camera and sensor inputs to determine actions and trajectory in real time.

These systems generate a significant amount of content that must be communicated to the driver, including alerts, navigation instructions, and system status updates.

However, the driver is still responsible, and to establish trust and transparency, the driver needs to be aware of the environmental perception and be ready to take over - which requires high-quality and reliable displays.

Market Trend and Global Market Differentiation Strategies

User experience is now central to cockpit design. Consumers accustomed to smartphone-grade displays - vivid, responsive, beautifully designed - bring those expectations into the car. Displays and connectivity have become primary purchase criteria. For OEMs, the interior is no longer just functional; it is a brand statement.

Today, it is not uncommon to see dual 12.3" displays under a single lens in both luxury and mass-market vehicles.

Some luxury OEMs are shifting to OLED to differentiate their brands. OLED delivers exceptional contrast and color. Plastic OLED goes further, giving designers the freedom to create curved, sculptural forms that would be impossible with rigid glass, adding an aesthetic dimension that enhances the premium experience.

OLED carries a significant price premium over LCD. According to Omida, OLED shipments are projected to grow from around 4.5 million units this year to roughly 13 million by 2030 - a clear signal that premium buyers are willing to pay for it.

LCD will continue to dominate the automotive display industry. Even in premium automotive market segments that also feature OLED, high-perceptual-quality LCD panels remain the primary solution. Quantum Dot (QLED), FALD, and mini-LED backlights are enhancing LCD's optical performance - improving contrast and color gamut to meet premium expectations.

Entry- and mass-market vehicles will largely rely on flat a-Si or LTPS displays with edge-light backlights - cost is the governing constraint.

The two-wheeler market is also transitioning to larger TFT LCDs. This is a high-volume, highly price-sensitive segment. Closer collaboration with the LCD industry is needed to develop cost-competitive solutions. Additionally, to meet regulations and improve safety, commercial vehicles are increasing the number of displays used in clusters, infotainment systems, and pillar applications.

Across all automotive market segments, OEMs are pushing toward larger, curved, and multi-panel designs -under a single lens - as the display surface becomes the primary interface between driver and vehicle.

The average car price in the USA has increased by 36% since 2019, while median income has risen only 25% - new car pricing in USA is approaching $47K. That is roughly twice the average price of a new car in China, where consumers have many vehicle options priced below $20K. Reducing vehicle costs is a strategic imperative, and displays are part of that equation. Display costs and NREs need to be more competitive.

Chinese buyers are redefining the criteria of automotive prestige. They prioritize software features over brand heritage. The average new car buyer in China is around 30 years old. Within five years, this tech-savvy generation will be the dominant new car buyer in China.

The global market has widely implemented large free-form displays and interior design. Chinese OEMs have competed on connectivity and software-defined vehicles. The future of automobile technology in both regions will be shaped by this divergence in design philosophies, which highlight the opposing priorities of innovation and cost-effectiveness.

Where the Engineering Actually Lives

LCD will continue to command the majority of automotive display volume. In 2025, according to Omida, it held about 98% of market share, and cost dynamics ensure that dominance persists across all market segments. High perceptual quality LCD displays are incorporating Quantum Dot technology, and utilizing mini-LED, and FALD backlight technologies to improve performance. Mini-LED shipments are projected at approximately 6.75 million units in 2025, with revenue share expected to exceed 20% of the automotive display market by 2030.

These technologies improve the performance of the LCD, however; they increase cost, power. New technology innovation to improve the native contrast ratios to above 5,000:1 would reduce dependence on FALD backlighting. Display companies are working on solving this challenge and early results are showing progress achieving 2,500:1 contrast ratio

Conclusion

The cars of the future will be more than simply vehicles you just drive; they will be interactive systems. This change emphasizes the importance of intuitive interfaces that efficiently convey information without overwhelming the driver, which requires displays of uncompromising quality and reliability.