How do you imaging our windshields in 5 years from now?

Let me ask you a simple but also complicated question. How do you imaging our windshields in 1 year, and 5 or 10 years from now?

Do you remember Minority report film, this will be even better!

Put yourself in 2025, You are ready to commute as usually, sitting in the front seat of your car saying to it "Start". Suddenly, your electric car comes alive when it picks up your voice. Automatically, the advanced photovoltaic cells begin to absorb sunlight, while the glass in the rear windows darkens to prevent glare and keep the interior cool. At the same time, augmented reality displays appear on the windshield. The car communicates online with hundreds of vehicles and receives information about traffic online. The car already knows your destination and an arrow appears as an indication projected on the glass.

It´s true, your windshield will be your new smart display offering vehicles with the same intuitive technology and connectivity as a smartphone.

The business model of the automotive industry is going to change completely, and the windshield is going to become the most important part of a car.

And all the experts end with the same idea, the windshield of the future will be a large multimedia screen connecting our car and ourselves with the rest of the world.

But added to this trend is the advancement of automated driving, which will gradually unload the driver from the driving function and allow him to focus his attention on other things while driving as telework, consume content, chat, or any other tasks.

The car is going to become an ecosystem of attention, where the windshield will be the big screen and its command and entertainment center. The windshield will become a viewing surface with endless possibilities.

But not only the windshield, there are already investigations of rear side windows as information and entertainment displays like we saw in the movie Minority Report, where people do all kinds of things with glass.

Apple has already filed for patents specifying the ability to make FaceTime calls between two autonomous cars, and industry experts predict an upcoming revolution in car cabin design.

Another line of development is the three-dimensional graphics projected on the windshield, which will help us to better manage care while driving. And in a fully autonomous car, 3D displays will offer new immersive experiences with games and movies, as well as for interaction with other people.

Again! The future seems to be great for glass! Let´s go for it.

David Pesquera - Director, EuropeCorporate Supply Chain & Purch

5th May 2020