Head-up displays project important vehicle data onto the windshield. A new HUD generation now wants to revolutionize navigation and entertainment in the car. Pedestrians, cyclists, traffic signs or advertising should be displayed in bright colors over the entire area.
Arrows sail in the direction of the curve, show the way. The current speed also flashes. Everything appears to be taking place far in front of the car; in fact, it is a matter of projections onto the windshield. But the illusion provided by so-called augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HuD) is perfect.
The virtual and real worlds merge, you get useful information without having to take your eyes off the road. And soon the systems will be able to do even more.
With a combination of holography and augmented reality, the start-up Wayray wants to use a laser to project holograms onto the windscreen of vehicles. The display should be around ten times larger than in previous systems. In addition to the course of the road, pedestrians, cyclists, traffic signs or advertising can be graphically and colorfully displayed over the entire area.
“Animations dance in front of the car”
“Animations dance in front of the car and move analogously, controlled by the viewer’s line of sight”, explains Wayray boss Vitaly Ponomarev. Compact laser technology in the vehicle floor enables this new AR experience. From there, the red-green-blue beam of light travels to the dashboard.
There is an optical system that develops the holograms and projects them onto a special photopolymer film in the windshield. As a result, objects appear to viewers in a range from virtually zero meters to almost infinitely far away. The first cars with the technology are expected to come onto the market in 2025.
With head-up displays – as the name suggests – the head and eyes can stay up. You don’t have to look away to read the displays. This eliminates a source of danger. Because at a speed of 100 km/h, for example, you cover 56 meters in two seconds. So when in doubt, a long blind flight route in which a lot can happen.
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Head-up displays were first used around 1940
No wonder heads-up displays were first used in fighter jets around 1940. During difficult manoeuvres, the projections should prevent you from having to look down at the instruments and literally losing sight of what is actually happening.
The first black-and-white projections appeared in cars in the 1980s, and colored head-up displays have been around since the early 2000s. And they can still be found on airplanes.
Pedro Ribeiro Monteiro is responsible for the Mbux infotainment system at Mercedes-Benz, which includes an optional head-up display with AR. The engineers developed the system that has been used in the S-Class and its electric counterpart, the EQS, for around five years.
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“In curves, a wide image would help the pilot”
“In order not to overwhelm drivers, only the most necessary information is displayed in the field of vision, such as current speed, navigation information, driver assistance information or speed limits,” says Monteiro. Individual names of callers, streets or radio stations can also be displayed.
The Mercedes system still requires a lot of space, which is more available in an S-Class than in an A-Class. Future systems should therefore be smaller while at the same time offering a larger picture and additional functions that support drivers in their tasks. “A wide image would help the driver when cornering, but displays on the side windows are also conceivable,” says Monteiro, referring to future autonomous vehicles.
Volkswagen has already integrated the AR HuD system into the compact car segment
In this context, Wayray also sees potential for side window holograms with information and content. According to Vitaly Ponomarev, any transparent surface can be converted into an augmented reality display, including the living room windows at home. Numerous suppliers and institutes are also researching AR-HuD in order to be able to record complete discs in the future.
Projections also offer many possible uses in AR glasses. Various tech companies have already developed prototypes, but also series models. Well-known smart wearables with AR projection are, for example, Google Glass or Microsoft HoloLens.
Volkswagen has already integrated an AR HuD system into the compact car segment. It is part of the special equipment for electric models such as the ID.3 and ID.4. “The ergonomic advantages noticeably increase driving comfort,” says Alexander Kunze, a specialist in AR systems at Volkswagen. “The cognitive effort involved in interpreting the information shown is reduced because the relevant information appears virtually at its reference point in the street environment.”
Supporting displays will also be mandatory in the future
The instructions on navigation, distance or staying in lane are only displayed when they are needed – optically in a distance that appears to be ten meters away. Below that is a display band with static information that appears to be floating three meters away.
And where is the journey going? “Over the next few years, we will be using the ever-improving and more accurate data from the vehicle to develop new functions with high customer benefits that support the driver even further, such as assisted lane changes,” says Alexander Kunze.
However, the developers will not be able to do without supporting displays below the head-up display in the future either. The law stipulates that all essential information must be visible at all times. This includes all warning and function lights.
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