Microchip Introduces First Automotive-Qualified, Single-Chip Solution for Ultrawide Touch Displays

To better meet the need for safe, intuitive and easy-to-use user interfaces within automotive dashboards, designers are continuing to consolidate the vehicle’s cluster, center stack and co-driver displays into very wide screens. Supporting both LCD and OLED displays, Microchip’s latest maXTouch touchscreen controller reduces integration complexity and cost for ultrawide touch displays up to 45 inches.

In a effort to expand its reach in the lucrative automotive sector, Swedish streaming audio company Spotify has launched its very first hardware product. With free and widely available radio stations still dominating the space, car audio remains the last frontier to be conquered by streaming services. Spotify seems determined to cover that market, even if it requires launching a proof-of-concept product. Spotify Car Thing is basically a dedicated Spotify player with voice controls for Premium subscribers, cutting the ties to the smartphone.

Revel, the Harman high-end home-audio brand, entered into a 10-year agreement to offer Revel brand OEM audio systems installed in Ford Lincoln automobiles. This agreement is the first time the Revel brand will appear in a factory car audio sound system, as was done previously with the Harman JBL and Infinity brands.