Gentex Rear Camera Display Mirror wins 2008 PACE award

Gentex Corporation, the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the worldwide automotive industry, has received a prestigious 2008 Automotive News PACE Award for its Rear Camera Display Mirror. The award was presented Monday, April 14, at an evening ceremony at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit.

The Rear Camera Display (RCD) Mirror is an interior auto-dimming rearview mirror with an integrated liquid crystal display (LCD) display that works with a video camera to provide a view of the area directly behind the vehicle. The LCD display appears automatically through the auto-dimming mirror’s reflective surface when the vehicle is shifted into ‘reverse’ and disappears when the vehicle is shifted into any other gear. The unique capability for the display to appear through the mirror’s surface is made possible by Gentex proprietary ‘transflective’ coatings and lighting techniques, which result in a bright, high-resolution video image.

Virtually all vehicles have large rear blind zones that make it difficult to detect objects and pedestrians – especially small children – in the vehicle’s rearward path. Gentex developed the mirror-borne display to address the problem of reversing incidences and to make it easy and cost effective for automakers to offer rear camera systems on a wider variety of vehicles. The mirror is an intuitive and ergonomic location for the display, which allows the driver to view the display and reflected scene simultaneously.

Gentex is a six-time winner of the PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers’ Contribution to Excellence) Award, which is in its 14th year. The annual award recognises automotive suppliers for their contribution to innovation, technological advancement and business performance in three categories. The awards, considered the industry’s benchmark for innovation, are jointly presented by Automotive News, Microsoft, SAP and the Transportation Research Center.

“As an organisation that understands the importance of innovation, we’re exceptionally pleased that the RCD Mirror has been recognised with a 2008 PACE Award,” said Fred Bauer, Gentex chairman and CEO. “This product is a culmination of teamwork across multiple technology disciplines within Gentex that provides a corporate culture that fosters innovation as a tool for creating a competitive advantage.”

Gentex won in the Product category, which recognises innovations in new products that have significant market impact and act as ‘game changers’ in the automotive industry. Other categories are Product – Europe, Information Technology and Services, and Manufacturing Processes and Capital Equipment.