Abstract

A great amount of efforts has been devoted to the constant improvements of such basic performance of automobiles as drivability, safety and environmental protection. The total combination of various technologies such as mechanics, electronics and optics results in making automobiles safer and more comfortable. Among these technologies, surface and thin film technologies are mainly concerned with various application fields. For example, optical thin films including interference coatings were applied to the control of the solar energy invading through automobile windshield, which results in low fuel consumption and also protection of the driver's skin and sheet materials from strong ultraviolet ray irradiation. Birefringent and polarizing films are also effective for the construction of display devices of interior panels for man-machine interface. From the safety driving point of view, ultrasonic mirrors combined with hydrophobic thin film coating was widely used for keeping high viewing field of mirrors in rainy days.

© 1992 Optical Society of America