RFI Q3 2024 CC post 4:
It basically does nothing other than providing privacy and personally I question why anyone would need privacy from people looking in through the top of their sunroof, especially since the SPD solution blocks 99.5% of the light. So both technologies will deliver privacy, but SPD also delivers the heat, light and glare control, which is essential for energy efficiency and occupant comfort.
From a benefit standpoint, it's clear that SPD SmartGlass offers the most practical benefits and the ones that the carmakers need. I'm also pretty confident that the automakers monitor these user forums and aware that the PDLC solution leaves a lot to be desired.
Let's talk about the other path of getting an alternative technology into the car that I mentioned earlier, which is trying to avoid our 250 or so patents. You can see that some older and much lower performing technologies in SPD are currently trying to be introduced.
When personal computers first came out, I'm going to show my age here, the first popular computer chip was the Intel XT chip and about 2 years later the AT Chip came out and after that various Pentium and dual core processor chips came out. Moore's Law named after Gordon Moore says that computing power doubles every 18 to 24 months or so.
So if you take a 20 year lifespan of a patent and try to use technology that is 20 years older than what's available today, you undoubtedly would get much lower performance. In the case of a computer chip, over a 20 year lifespan, the effective computing power was 1,000 times better with the new technology.
And the reason I use a 20 year lifespan as an example is because that's a typical term of a patent. So if someone wanted to use off patent SPD, they're using 20 year old technology or they're risking substantial liability for infringement as well as the ability to be shut down in any area of the world that respects intellectual property rights.
My experience has been that no reputable car maker that sells cars outside of China will introduce a car using infringing technologies. I'm going to show my age again, a similar analogy might be someone trying to introduce an 8 track tape player into a car today. It's not going to work.
The 3rd path to getting an alternative technology into a car is similar and related to the benefits discussion we just had. It's cost versus performance. And carmakers are trying to figure out whether cheaper smart glass technologies such as PDLC are going to deliver any functional difference and deliver on their promises.
We know the answer to that, but they just have to see it for themselves sometimes. And carmakers typically try to make the best car they can at a price point that competes with others in their price class for that model.
Sometimes a few dollars is the difference between being in one class or another for these carmakers. And this situation leads sometimes to bad decisions. Credible influencers certainly have an impact and I'm sure that automakers pay attention to consumer sentiment and complaints.
And of course different technologies and products in the automotive market coexist with each other. Take tires for example. There are many different manufacturers of tires of varying quality and performance that automakers put on their cars and sometimes it's a matter of getting to a particular price point.
Cont'd |
