Technology company Continental is showcasing its Crystal Center Display for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show 2024. In a world-first, the premium automotive display is fully embedded in a stylish crystal housing – opening up completely new possibilities to integrate minimalist luxury into car interiors with its frameless and semi-transparent look. The 10-inch display is based on the latest microLED technology that enables unprecedented levels of brightness and contrast. The image-generating microLED panel is suspended in an artfully composed crystal body, creating the illusion that the content displayed is floating. The unique combination of the automotive display and real crystal was developed in collaboration with Swarovski Mobility. For this solution, the technology company Continental was honored with a CES Innovation Award Honoree for outstanding product design.
“With the Crystal Center Display as a key component, we want to turn the world of interior design on its head and create an innovative focal point for premium vehicles of the future – one that grabs attention and stirs emotions. We are moving away from the straightforward display of information and elevating it to a highly personalized user experience,” said Dr. Boris Mergell, head of the User Experience (UX) business area in Continental.
Focal point of the vehicle interior: exquisite design meets state-of-the-art display technology
The three-dimensional crystal form turns heads with its unique facet cut developed in-house by Swarovski Mobility and underlines the elegant appearance of the Crystal Center Display. The eye-catching arrangement of the central information display gives automotive designers exciting new ways to interpret the minimalist aesthetic in luxury car interiors.
The Crystal Center Display, as the key control element, is at the heart of the operating concept and information playback. Its innovative design blurs the boundaries between technology and intuitive interaction, as the semi-transparent and floating display brings in-car virtual assistance systems to life in a way that has never been seen before. This puts interaction between human and vehicle (the so-called human-machine interface) at the heart of an emotionalized brand experience.
Technology and design in symbiosis: collaboration with Swarovski Mobility
To bring this unique combination of technology and aesthetics to life, Continental has entered a collaboration with Swarovski Mobility. This will allow the two companies to pool their resources and leverage their expertise into a product that breaks new ground in terms of both design and technology. Particular focus was placed on the volumetric crystal panel, which features distinctive faceting created using special grinding techniques. The experts at the traditional Austrian company succeeded in conceiving a delicate yet extremely durable crystal housing that meets the optical and technical challenges of in-vehicle use. The tinted crystal element, striking and transparent, allows the driver and passengers to see right through to the center console behind it. The elegant overall look underscores the unique character and design.
“The Crystal Center Display is the result of a combination of production and process technologies which together with Continental we implemented into an innovative new design element – one that is as impressive visually as it is technically,” explained Peter Widmann, Senior Vice President B2B and Managing Director at Swarovski Mobility. He continued: “In this way, our crystal becomes much more than just an interior design element – users experience it as a key interaction interface in the vehicle.”
A particular challenge faced by the engineers at Continental was to project the display into the tinted crystal panel and merge everything into a seamless unit. This creates the illusion that the content being displayed is floating freely in the crystal. To achieve this, the Crystal Center Display employs advanced microLED technology. MicroLED displays feature self-illuminating pixels and offer much greater brightness and superior contrast than comparable technologies. With the next-generation screen technology built into the Crystal Center Display, Continental is paving the way for exciting new luxury interior concepts that could define cars of the future.
The symbiosis of premium crystal and leading-edge display technology was a big hit when the Crystal Center Display debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas. The world-first from technology company Continental was short-listed as a CES 2024 Innovation Award honoree in the category of “vehicle tech & advanced mobility”. The jury was impressed by the innovative and minimalist design combined with the technical features of the display.
