Touchscreens have become prevalent in modern society, but one reoccurring issue has yet to be solved, until now it seems. General Motors has patented a new screen design that allows touchscreens to remove fingerprints all by themselves.
According to an article from Gizmodo, the technology works like this;
In addition to red, green, and blue pixels, the upgraded screens would introduce an additional purple pixel that would be invisible to the human eye, similar to ultraviolet light, so as not to degrade the colors and images displayed on the screen. The touchscreen would also use a similarly invisible photocatalytic screen coating designed to absorb specific wavelengths of light to create a chemical reaction. GM’s patent suggests using a metal oxide-based photocatalyst that would react to the ultraviolet radiation of sunlight, but since many cars use window tints to keep the interior dark and cool, the photocatalyst reaction would be initiated by the purple pixels instead .
At night when the car is sitting in the dark unused, or even during a daytime driver-initiated cleaning cycle, the purple pixels would come on and activate the photocatalyst in the screen coating, which would trigger a chemical reaction that uses up moisture in the air to clean to break down the organic materials left in fingerprints, as well as the oil residue and grease from food eaten inside the car.
The technology is just at the patent state at present, and GM hasn’t made any official announcement about the technology but if pursued it would have huge ramifications and usage for touchscreens on all devices, not just in cars.