VESA’s DisplayPort Automotive Extensions (DP AE) define standardized safety and security mechanisms aimed at meeting ISO 26262 ASIL-D, UN R155, and ISO/SAE 21434 requirements, while building on the existing DisplayPort ecosystem. In an interview with AEM, James Goel, DisplayPort Automotive Extension Lead and VESA board member, outlined the technical background of DP AE, its standardization process, and the implications for the automotive display ecosystem.

By BJ Yoon



As vehicle cockpits evolve into increasingly complex digital environments, the display interface has emerged as a mission-critical element for ensuring safety, security, and overall system reliability. Automotive displays are no longer passive components; they are central to delivering safety-critical information to drivers and passengers in real time.

In response to these demands, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA®) has introduced DisplayPort Automotive Extensions (DP AE), an effort to extend the DisplayPort ecosystem to meet the stringent functional safety and cybersecurity requirements of modern vehicles. DP AE builds directly on the existing DisplayPort 2.1a and Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.5a specifications, adding automotive-grade safety and security protocols without requiring a reinvention of the underlying display technology stack.

In an interview with AEM, James Goel, DisplayPort Automotive Extension Lead and VESA board member, outlined the motivations behind DP AE, the technical challenges encountered during standardization, and the expected impact on the automotive display ecosystem.

Closing the Safety and Security Gap in Automotive Displays

According to Goel, the primary challenge VESA faced in developing DP AE was not raw bandwidth or performance, but the absence of standardized mechanisms for automotive functional safety and security within existing display interfaces.

“The main problems facing our automotive VESA DisplayPort application were the lack of standardized Functional Safety (FuSa) support to help achieve ISO 26262 Part 5 ASIL-D level and for display security to achieve UNECE 155/156 and ISO/SAE 21434,” Goel said.

To close this gap, DP AE introduces protocol-level features specifically designed for automotive use. These include functional safety mechanisms such as standardized CRC32 polynomial selection, source and sink timeout monitoring, regions-of-interest (ROI) definitions, and unique frame ID generation, as well as a security architecture based on DMTF SPDM for authenticated and secure display links.

▶ Standardized CRC32 polynomial selection for deterministic error detection
▶ Source and sink timeout monitoring for fault detection
▶ Regions-of-interest (ROI) definitions to isolate critical display content
▶ Unique frame ID generation to ensure data integrity
▶ A security architecture based on DMTF SPDM

Together, these features are intended to provide a predictable, peer-reviewed foundation for meeting the highest automotive safety integrity levels.

Rather than relying on a single monolithic configuration, DP AE is defined through four cumulative performance profiles. Each profile builds incrementally on the previous one, allowing system designers to balance cost, complexity, and safety requirements. Profile 4 represents the most comprehensive implementation, incorporating all mandatory sections of the DP AE specification and targeting use cases where display failure could directly impact vehicle safety.

Leveraging Existing DisplayPort Investments and Verification Tools

VESA has intentionally positioned DP AE as a protocol extension rather than a replacement for existing DisplayPort technology.

“The DP AE spec is built as a protocol layer on top of the existing DisplayPort 2.1 Link and PHY layers,” Goel explained. “The expectation is for PHY vendors to leverage their existing DP investment for this new specification.”

This approach minimizes disruption across the semiconductor supply chain, enabling PHY vendors to reuse proven IP while reducing development time and qualification cost. 
At the same time, VESA has no current plans to standardize a dedicated automotive PHY adapter layer, leaving physical-layer optimization to individual vendors.

To support implementation and verification, VESA has also released a normative C-model for DP AE. While often associated with FPGA-based verification platforms, Goel emphasized that the model is intended as a fully executable software reference rather than a conceptual artifact.

“The DP AE C-Model is a normative reference that engineers can use as a fully software-based executable version of the DP AE specification.  It is VESA’s hope that it will accelerate design, verification, and compliance testing.”

As a result, the model is applicable not only to reference designs, but also to ECU and TCU development environments, where early validation of functional safety behavior is increasingly critical.


DP AE Gains Momentum Through OpenGMSL Partnership

At CES 2026, VESA announced a partnership with OpenGMSL to enable DP AE to operate over long-distance automotive serializer/deserializer (SerDes) links. The move marks the first concrete ecosystem expansion of DP AE beyond the specification level.
OpenGMSL, founded in June 2025, focuses on long-reach video and high-speed data communication interfaces for automotive and adjacent markets. By combining VESA’s DisplayPort technology and its automotive-grade functional safety and cybersecurity architecture with OpenGMSL’s SerDes links, the two organizations aim to provide an open, end-to-end solution for high-performance in-vehicle displays.
The partnership addresses a key practical limitation. Automotive systems often require video transmission across distances of up to 15 meters between GPUs and remote displays—significantly longer than the short cable lengths for which the original DisplayPort physical layer was optimized. Through OpenGMSL integration, DP AE can support these extended distances while preserving full DisplayPort video quality, including 10-bit compressed 4K video and custom automotive display formats.
Importantly, DP AE’s functional safety and cybersecurity mechanisms are maintained over long cable runs, ensuring system-level integrity in distributed vehicle architectures.

AEM(오토모티브일렉트로닉스매거진)