Integrating modern technology into the automobile seems to be a process that speeds up every day. Now, a new report suggests that Hyundai is hard at work with the goal of putting an LED display on the grille of a future car. The space could then communicate specific messages to those outside of the vehicle.
First spotted by Reddit user andrewia, it seems as though someone communicating publicly with Texas Instruments leaked that Hyundai was working on a 71×33 RGB LED display through its supplier Mobis. While the automaker has yet to confirm the authenticity of the conversation seen on the TI forum, it’s publicly shown interest in such a feature for some time.
Back in March of 2022, it showed off its “Concept of Mobis: Future Exterior” on YouTube. That video, embedded below, demonstrates exactly this type of technology. A display on the grille of a rendered car provides messages to those outside of it saying things like “Go Ahead” to pedestrians or welcoming an owner to the vehicle upon unlocking.
More: Future BMWs Could Incorporate Headlights Into An Even Larger Digital Grille
It could provide other tidbits of information too like if the car was in some sort of autonomous driving mode. Hyundai’s concept video also showed off a lot of aesthetic touches as well. In some cases, very simple display changes could enhance the vehicle’s appearance depending on what the owner prefers. In other cases, it could show full-color images as the car was in motion.
As The Drive rightly points out, color displays on the front of cars aren’t likely to fly anytime soon in America at least. Most states specifically prohibit any colored light aside from white or amber so as to prevent normal vehicles from being confused with emergency vehicles.
Hyundai isn’t the only one with this idea either. BMW recently showed off its i Vision Circular Concept with kidney grilles that doubled as a place where the lights resided and messages could be displayed. Before that, Opel dropped the Manta GSe ElektroMod with similar technology. There’s no telling who will bring this sort of thing to market first but we presume that it won’t be cheap to replace when someone inevitably smacks it into something.
