61‐4: Display Visual Security: From Laptop Privacy to No Driver Distraction for Automotive Passenger Infotainment

An electrically switchable privacy display technology using proprietary optical stacks developed by the authors has now shipped in more than 1 million laptop PCs, delivering best-in-class protection from off-axis visual hackers and high image visibility to display users. In parallel the authors have been developing a new generation of switchable automotive front-seat Passenger Infotainment Displays (PID). Differences between the user needs for PID and laptop are discussed. Presented is a method to quantify ‘No Driver Distraction’ (NDD) in PID and image security to visual hackers in laptops, including a means of determining the limits of NDD/security. Proprietary optical stack structures for PID and laptop are compared. A PID technology demonstrator achieves less than 1% of head-on luminance for a driver offset by just 25° from a passenger, and a shipping laptop provides no image visibility at >45° at 1lux/nit using a switchable reflectivity optical stack with total screen thickness of less than 2.3mm.