2021 Cadillac Escalade Giant Curved OLED Screen: Fast Facts
Here's some barstool ammo for when the talk turns to big-screen SUVs.
We're all going to remember the new 2021 Cadillac Escalade for decades to come as having been the first to offer a curved OLED screen. Its arrival is the automotive world's big consumer-electronics moment, and that screen is sure to be a hot topic of conversation wherever car folks congregate. Here's what you need to know about it:
The 2021 Escalade's Giant 38-Inch Screen Is Really Three Screens
Starting from the far left, the 2021 Escalade features a 7.2-inch driver control touchscreen (all measurements are diagonal). Centered behind the steering wheel is a 14.2-inch cluster display screen. Then to the right of that is a 16.9-inch infotainment touchscreen. In addition to touch control, the latter can be manipulated with a rotary control dial that flips through items as though they're on a carousel. (Note that the climate controls get their own bank of controls below the infotainment screen.)
The Escalade's Screen Isn't Just Wide—It's High, Too
The broad horizontal format and high placement of the three screens on the dash keeps the attention of the driver and front passenger up closer to the windshield, and the bright, high-contrast OLED technology negates the need for a big brow to shade the displays. The thin-film technology allows a leather-wrapped binnacle that also includes a backlit Cadillac crest on its reverse that's visible through the windshield.
The New Escalade Has Four Cluster Display Modes
The bottom left edge of the screen is permanently devoted to a linear tachometer display and the odometer; the bottom right edge houses a similarly linear fuel gauge and readouts of range remaining and gear selected. The main area above that is used for one of the following displays (for now):
Gauge view:The normal programmable gauge-cluster view typically centers an analog-look speedometer, flanked on either side by displays of info like time/date/temperature or infotainment.
Navigation map mode:A digital readout of the speed moves to the top center of the screen for all other screen views. This one displays the map in a variety of possible views.
Augmented reality:When navigation is active and a route instruction is coming up, the new Escalade's screen switches to depict a live camera image of the actual intersection, exit ramp, etc., with arrows overlaid to indicate where to turn. A pin appears on the live image to indicate destinations, too. (Further augmenting your reality will be audio prompts that seem to come from the direction you're being told to turn.)
Night vision:Night vision projects a thermally enhanced view of what's in front of the vehicle, complete with colored boxes around pedestrians, animals, or other dangers that have been recognized by the vision systems that are also informing the forward collision alert and automatic emergency-braking systems.
