GM Patents Self-Cleaning Touch Screen That Erases Fingerprints

(Image: Chevrolet) For better or worse, touch-screen displays are almost as inherent to auto design as seatbelts and rear-view mirrors. Automakers are increasingly incorporating touch screens into base models as analog interfaces become a symbol of the past. But as ubiquitous and intuitive as touch screens have become, they carry a caveat: the dreaded fingerprint. General Motors appears to be fighting this phenomenon. On Feb. 14, the company filed a patent for a self-cleaning touch screen that erases fingerprints on a regular basis, eliminating the need for drivers to manually wipe down their displays.

All touch-screen infotainment or dashboard interfaces involve an array of red, green, and blue LEDs, which work together to tell you what song is playing or where you need to make a U-turn. According to GM’s patent, this novel self-cleaning display would involve a fourth type of LED, which would emit violet light. Violet light is invisible to the human eye, so this wouldn’t change drivers’ visual experience. Instead, it would activate a clear photocatalytic coating built into the transparent material that covers the LEDs. Upon activation, this coating would experience a chemical reaction that uses moisture in the air to decompose the organic material that makes up fingerprints.

(Image: Buick)

The violet LEDs built into GM’s touch screen would activate on a scheduled basis, like overnight, while the car is parked. GM’s patent also mentions a controller that would activate the violet LEDs on-demand—think during a road trip, when the driver and the person riding shotgun are feasting on greasy snacks and drive-thru meals.

GM acknowledges within its patent that it isn’t the first to develop photocatalytic touch-screen coatings. Other brands have incorporated photocatalytic coatings into their displays, particularly to defeat microbes that collect on a well-loved screen. But these require ultraviolet (UV) light to activate, meaning they’re useless during nighttime or on very cloudy days. By building violet LEDs into its displays, GM is working to eliminate external condition requirements and give its drivers the ability to erase fingerprints from their displays whenever they wish.

This is just a patent, and GM hasn’t officially said anything about incorporating the invention into its vehicles. Companies file patents for technologies they don’t use all the time, so it’s possible these specific fingerprint-erasing touch screens will never find their way into Buicks, GMC trucks, or Cadillacs. Given the pervasiveness of touch-screen displays, however, we’re hopeful this technology will eventually make it onto dealer floors.

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