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AR comes into the car in head-up displays

byNathalie
January 10, 2019
2 minute read

In connected vehicles, head-up displays (HUDs) safely provide the driver with important information. Continental has now developed an innovative HUD with augmented reality (AR).

And more news from the automotive sector. Just the day before yesterday, we reported on the latest innovation from Audi reports. Today, the focus is on head-up displays (HUDs), which provide drivers with information directly in their field of vision, such as speed or instructions from the navigation system. The automotive supplier Continental has presented its first head-up display with augmented reality (AR) based on holographic waveguide technology. It is not yet clear when the HUD will be ready for the market.

HUD with or without augmented reality

Currently, two types of head-up displays are already standard in cars without AR: either windscreen HUDs project the information onto the windscreen or so-called combiner HUDs reflect the image onto a small plastic screen above the speedometer.
HUD with augmented reality, on the other hand, adds virtual information to the external view of the traffic situation. For example, pedestrians are marked or the navigation system shows direction arrows precisely in the correct lane.

More security

To read an instrument cluster, you have to take your eyes off the road for at least a short time. The eyes have to adjust to the shorter viewing distance (accommodation), only then does the flow of information begin. The process is then reversed. The eyes adapt again to the greater visual distance to the traffic. This process takes time and tires the eyes if it occurs frequently. With a conventional instrument cluster, it takes at least half a second to read a display, including accommodating twice. One second of averted vision at a speed of 120 km/h corresponds to a driving distance of around 33 metres "flying blind".

With a head-up display, drivers receive all relevant information exactly where they really need it - directly in their field of vision. They can keep their eyes on the road and still receive all the important information, such as speed, important warning messages and navigation arrows. A windscreen HUD gives the impression that there is a display two to three metres away, directly in front of the bonnet.

In the case of an augmented reality head-up display, this display is supplemented by an additional display level. This makes it look as if the information on the AR-HUD is directly part of the real driving situation taking place in front of the vehicle.

For tech freaks: waveguide and waveguide plate

Head-up displays with AR were previously based on space-consuming mirror technology. Instead of mirrors to guide and magnify the images, waveguide technology now diffracts the light. At the heart of the waveguide technology is the waveguide plate: instead of mirrors, Continental's HUD uses a so-called waveguide plate that reflects the image onto the windscreen. The light beams from the beamer that generates the image are guided into the multi-layer waveguide, deflected and projected onto the windscreen via the decoupling grid.
Online: Online PC / Continental / Youtube
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