GM Is Working on a Self-Cleaning Touchscreen

•    GM has filed a patent application for a self-cleaning technology for touchscreens.

•    Via a process using photocatalysis, the screens can be cleaned automatically, or on demand by the occupants.

•    GM offers large touchscreens in its vehicles, notably those flying the Cadillac flag. Cleaning these huge surfaces is an issue.

If your vehicle is equipped with a touchscreen, you'll have noticed, as we did, that it doesn't take too long before the screen gets streaked and marked by fingerprints and dust accumulation. When the sun falls on it, a car’s screen can start to look pretty horrible. 

General Motors (GM) may have some good news on this front. Indeed, the American giant is working on a self-cleaning touchscreen. A patent for such a system was filed last week by the company with the USPTO (United States Patents and Trademark Office). 

The filing was discovered by autoevolution.com. The system described in the document submitted by GM uses a photocatalytic coating and violet light to remove oil residues, fingerprints and other dirt.

Cadillac Escalade V - Large screen, including touchscreen | Photo: Cadillac

The information submitted by GM explains that the LED touchscreens emit red, green and blue light that is visible. The purple light in the proposed self-cleaning unit is a fourth LED, this time invisible. It reacts to the photocatalyst in the touchscreen's clear coating as well as the moisture in the air to clean the glass surface. GM's patent states that this process can be activated manually or automatically, depending on the degree of sunlight exposure or other circumstances.

And what is a photocatalyst? We asked ourselves that question, and we're guessing many of you will do the same. According to aquaportail.com, “a photocatalyst is a material that absorbs light to a higher energy level and provides that energy to a reactive substance to cause a chemical reaction, photocatalysis.”

Photocatalysts are defined as materials that break down harmful substances under the sun's rays containing UV light. The photocatalytic process can eliminate odours, purify air and clean surfaces. 

With increasingly massive screens, as we've seen from GM, but from Mercedes-Benz and others, it's not surprising that a manufacturer would look at the problem of stains and dirt that accumulate on glass surfaces. 

Obviously, don't look for this technology tomorrow on a GM vehicle. We'll have to see if the idea makes it to production. In the meantime, we'll just have to keep on washing it the old-fashioned way: a good scrubbing by hand.