There are two ways to look at the safety of in-car TV. One one hand, if it shuts up the kids, you are free to concentrate on the road. On the other, watching Gone in Sixty Seconds while driving is likely to be a little distracting.
Either way, HD-DVD was bound to come to the car sooner or later, and Toshiba is planning to be one of the first. They have demoed a player and also an LCD touchscreen which will help the kids really Find Nemo in his sharp HD glory. The prototype screen incorporates a sensor into each pixel which will detect the shadow of your finger by day, and the reflection from the backlight by night.
Right now, the panel needs two separate sensing systems, each with their own software, but Toshiba plans to integrate the two using an infra red backlight. If you really need High Def on such a tiny screen, you'll have to wait until next year to pimp your ride.
Toshiba Presents Automotive HD DVD Player, LCD Featuring Touch Panel [Tech-On via New Launches]
