"This Time It's Railroads"... LG Display Accelerates Popularization of Transparent OLED

World's First Commercialized Technology
Including Regulatory Innovation Cases by the Office for Government Policy Coordination
Allowing Window Advertisements in Domestic Subways and More

LG Display is showcasing a transparent OLED panel for railroads that can replace train compartment windows at the Busan International Railroad Technology Industry Exhibition held at BEXCO, Busan, last June.
[Photo by LG Display]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] LG Display has opened the door to applying the world's first transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology to domestic public transportation. With window-type advertisements using this product becoming possible in the railway sector such as subways, the popularization of OLED technology, which had been limited to IT and home appliances, is expected to accelerate.

According to the industry on the 31st, LG Display's transparent OLED was included in the regulatory innovation cases announced yesterday by the Office for Government Policy Coordination through the Regulatory Reform Bulletin, and from now on, window advertisements using this product will be permitted on domestic subway windows.

Until now, the Outdoor Advertising Act has generally prohibited window advertisements that emit light on the exterior surfaces of transportation vehicles, citing concerns that it could cause inconvenience to the operation of other transportation means. Because of this, it was unclear whether window advertisements using LG Display's transparent OLED could be allowed domestically.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination clarified that subway advertisements using transparent OLED displays are not subject to regulations prohibiting window advertisements that emit light on the exterior surfaces of transportation vehicles, based on the Outdoor Advertising Act interpretation concluded by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in December last year.

Passengers are examining the 55-inch transparent OLED by LG Display installed in the Shenzhen subway in China.
[Image source=China State Railway Group (CRRC)]

LG Display commercialized transparent OLED for railways for the first time in the world and has been supplying it to subways in major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen since last year. Russia and Japan are also actively promoting the introduction of this product, but due to ambiguous regulations, it had not been utilized in the railway sector domestically. The company expects that this regulatory innovation case will break the constraints and expand its applications.

The transparent OLED for railways introduced by LG Display can be used like transparent glass in normal times, while selectively displaying video information through electrical signals, enabling information delivery like signboards or advertisements when attached to transportation windows.

According to LG Display, the transparent OLED display for railways is 55 inches in size and can be applied to the left and right glass windows of subway or train cabins. The product's transparency is 40%, about four times higher than the 10% level of transparent liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, improving openness and visibility. Additionally, special tempered glass is applied to withstand shocks and vibrations better than existing panels, suitable for trains running at high speeds on tracks.

Transparent OLED has the advantage of maximizing transmittance as pixels emit light themselves without a backlight, attracting great interest from mobility customers such as autonomous vehicles, aircraft, and subways, as well as various fields like smart homes and smart buildings. According to the global consulting firm 'Prescient & Strategic Intelligence,' the transparent display market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 46%, reaching $4.933 billion (approximately 5.7469 trillion KRW) by 2024.

An LG Display official emphasized, "We have all the infrastructure for transparent OLED production in place, so we will be able to respond immediately to the increasing market demand."