ITRI and Miortech develop next generation flexible electronic displays and curved auto-dimming car mirrors.
Eindhoven, the Netherlands, March 3, 2009 – Miortech B.V. and the Display Technology Center of ITRI today announce their technical cooperation to develop next generation flexible displays and curved exterior auto-dimming car mirrors. The project will use electrowetting technology and expertise developed by both organizations, and will help to eliminate dangerous blind spots and dazzle in automotive rear mirrors.
For ITRI, the main purpose of the cooperation is to develop thin, lightweight and flexible screens that can display full color images at video speed with minimum power consumption. For Miortech, it is to develop curved exterior auto-dimming car mirrors, to complement its flat interior auto-dimming car mirrors.
Reduces dangerous blind spot
Dr Hans Feil, Miortech CEO: "The cooperation with ITRI will enable us to accelerate the development of curved exterior car mirrors and shorten the time-to-market of our glass based AlertMirror®. It is important to extend our product range to exterior car mirrors with a curved mirror surface, because these are preferred in a number of countries to reduce a potentially dangerous blind spot".
Miortech has introduced the AlertMirror®, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror displaying alerts like "low tire pressure" at the most natural place in a car cockpit: the rear-view mirror.
A driver looks in the rear-view mirror on average every 15 seconds, which makes it an important component in the human-machine interface.
Modern cars are equipped with auto-dimming rear-view mirrors which automatically turn dark when headlights of cars coming from behind cause glare. Today's mirrors, based on electrochromic technology, respond slowly when headlights suddenly appear from behind. Drivers can still be blinded for a moment, which can be dangerous. Miortech's AlertMirror can turn dark in milliseconds to prevent the danger. The AlertMirror comes in different dark colors enabling designers to match the rear-view mirror to the color of the car's interior. An integrated 'rear-camera display' and other display features are on Miortech's product roadmap.
About ITRI's Display Technology Center:
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is a national research organization that serves to strengthen the technological competitiveness of Taiwan. ITRI has been developing flat panel display technology since 1987. The Display Technology Center (DTC) was established in ITRI on January 1, 2006, as a part of the most significant restructuring effort of ITRI in its 33-year history. The objective is to align and integrate the display related projects and resources across the organizations in ITRI. The main theme which DTC choose, is to develop flexible displays to save energy and protect the Earth's environment in future.
About Miortech:
Since its inception in 2006, Miortech has focused on developing, producing and marketing auto-dimming rear-view car mirrors based on electrowetting technology. Auto-dimming rear-view mirrors turn dark automatically when cars coming from behind cause distracting glare. Electrowetting display technology was invented at Philips Research in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Miortech is located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.