Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) result in displays that are brighter, clearer and faster to illuminate than traditional liquid crystal displays.

They're easier to read in bright sunshine and from side angles. They also need less power to operate and take less room.

Inside each Audi, for example, there's a tiny pop-out drawer to hold coins. Into that small space, in the lab model, the engineers dropped a full-color 2-inch screen with a map display to show VW execs how effective OLED could be.

Audi unveiled OLED technology in the dashboard gauges in a concept car at the Detroit auto show earlier this year. Arne Stoschek, the lab's head of displays, sensors and materials, expects OLED to appear in a production model by 2009.

— Matt Nauman