Head-up display technology first appeared a decade ago in top-end luxury cars. Since then it has gradually spread to mass-market vehicles. The approach used by each company varies, but the end goal is always the same: providing essential information that’s easy for drivers to process, resulting in improved safety.
Beyond the vehicle speed, the windshield can now include details on the audio track being played, navigation instructions and even road signs like speed limits or school-zone indicators.
The Jaguar-Land Rover Group is working on moving the technology to the next level, with a system that will display data in 3D. In developing this technology, the company want to set the definition for what the next generation of head-up-display systems will look like.
By integrating augmented reality technologies, the company hopes with this development project to create a display that projects three-dimensional images of drive-related data. The driver would see this data directly on the road in front of the vehicle, which of course is where their gaze is usually aimed at.
The technology would substantially quicken drivers’ reaction times in numerous situations, and it would allow them to some vital information like a lane-departure or blind-spot warning when road conditions are bad.
"Studies conducted in Germany show that the use of Stereoscopic 3D displays in an automotive setting can improves reaction times on 'popping-out' instructions and increases depth judgments while driving."
- Jaguar-Land Rover
The technology is still strictly in the development phase. For the moment, the company is saying nothing about when it might make its way into a commercially available vehicle. In fact, it still remains to be determined if such a system is even feasible.
But at the rate technological developments and innovations are multiplying in the automotive domain, we wouldn’t want to bet against it…