Mine’s Bigger: 2021 Cadillac Escalade Gets a Curved 38-inch OLED Screen

Mine’s Bigger: 2021 Cadillac Escalade Gets a Curved 38-inch OLED Screen

Cadillac plans to rock the world Feb. 4 when it unveils the 2021 Escalade SUV with a curved, 38-inch OLED screen stretching across the instrument panel and center stack. It will be the largest screen among vehicles, excluding specialty automakers such as Byton, which reports it will have a 48-inch screen on its EV SUV.

It’s not clear about the shape or the curves, since the teaser image appears to be a cloth draped over the dash with a Cadillac logo. OLED, or organic light-emitting display, is the brightest display currently available. That’s important in dealing with outside light that affects an LCD’s image quality. “Featuring twice the pixel density of a 4K television,” a Cadillac tweet said Monday, “this technology enables bold imagery, perfect blacks and the largest color range available in the automotive industry.”

Straight lines are so last year. Introducing the first curved OLED in the industry, with over 38” diagonal of total display on the 2021 #Cadillac #Escalade. First look February 2020, available late 2020. pic.twitter.com/AoW4SvXhYA

— Cadillac (@Cadillac) December 16, 2019

That doesn’t tell us pixel count because we don’t know if Cadillac is talking about the 4K reference set being 37 inches or 85 inches diagonal; either would have 3,840 pixels across by 2,160 pixels deep in the common 16 x 9 screen ratio. The curve can refer to a curved display, concave or convex, but it can also refer to two flattish screen sections (instrument panel, center stack) curved in the section between the two display areas, with the center stack display closer to the driver and passenger.

Current (2020) Cadillac Escalade.
Current (2020) Cadillac Escalade.

The Feb. 4 announcement will be part of Oscars Week in Los Angeles. The current, fourth-generation Escalade, goes back to the 2015 model year. Cadillac says the Escalade is the best-seller in its class (luxury full-size SUVs) and is likely to sell 40,000 units this year. The class includes a revived Lincoln Navigator, big honkers from Germany Inc. in the form of the new (2019 model year) BMW X7 and the new (2020 MY), third-generation Mercedes-Benz GLS, as well as the Land Rover Range Rover and the Infiniti QX80.

2020 Lincoln Navigator cockpit.
2020 Lincoln Navigator cockpit.

To remain the top seller, Cadillac may need to match the German SUVs on technology including driver assists. Cadillac’s best technology is Super Cruise, the most sophisticated Level 2 self-driving system. Super Cruise uses lidar maps of all interstates and other major divided highways in the US and Mexico. Lincoln, meanwhile, has been winning plaudits for the upscale cockpits on its line of SUVs.

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