Heads up on latest in augmented reality displays for cars

Cruising on the highway in light traffic, an autonomous vehicle suddenly brakes hard. But the "driver" is not worried that the car may have malfunctioned.

The augmented reality windscreen has marked in red a deer in the distance that has stepped on to the road; the driver returns calmly to his crossword.

Once the stuff of Hollywood movies, augmented reality windscreens are on the verge of entering production.

Head-up displays (Huds) project information directly into the field of vision, so the driver does not have to look down at the instrument cluster. First used by pilots, these systems have been available in cars for more than a decade, first in more expensive vehicles and then hitting the mass market.

The information seems to float in front of the windscreen in exactly the spot a driver should look. Until now, Huds have tended to show only basic information generated by the vehicle, such as speed and navigation commands. But a new generation is set to fuse this with additional data from the car's cameras, radar and GPS. This is set to draw the driver's attention to possible dangers, road features or points of interest, thereby giving the driver "augmented" visual powers.

With navigation commands overlaid graphically on the road ahead, you might never take a wrong turn again. Think of it as an in-car version of a Google Glass headset.

As well as improving safety and navigation, the industry believes augmented reality Hud systems will support "autonomous" driving - or letting the car itself have more control, leading perhaps ultimately to driverless cars - as Huds could make those in the vehicles feel more comfortable.

Marc Necker, manager of augmented reality at Daimler, says: "There will be some customers who are reluctant to let go [of the wheel]. By showing the customer what the car 'sees', we can increase trust in the system."

Continental, the German parts supplier, is developing an augmented reality Hud system that will be ready for production in 2017.

This year, the Hannover-based company demonstrated a prototype that provides full-colour support for the car's advanced driver assistance systems, including a visual warning that the car is drifting out of its lane.

'In an emergency, you do not want to show information [about the danger] somewhere where the driver has to look for it - it needs to be in the field of view," says Eelco Spoelder, Continental's head of instrumentation.

The Continental Hud offers a larger visual plane than previous systems. Dashboard space has limited the size of displays, as their complex and bulky optics systems must be stored below the windscreen. Obscuring too much of the driver's field of vision is clearly not desirable for safety reasons.

"Every object you place in the driver's field of view is potentially covering up something happening in the road," says Hans Roth, director of technology marketing at the infotainment division of Harman, a supplier.

Jaguar Land Rover is working to make display units smaller and has also been experimenting with a variety of scenarios for augmented reality. For example, it aims to make the bonnet of its SUVs appear transparent, to enable the driver to "see" the obscured terrain.

"It's about adding value to the driver. If you are off-road and can't see a pothole, you drive into it," says Lee Skrypchuk, who specialises in such systems at Jaguar. "This can help people who don't have the experience or knowledge to drive in particular conditions."

Augmented visual information is not supplied solely by a Hud. The latest incarnation of the luxury Mercedes-Benz S-Class features a night-vision system in the instrument cluster. The LCD display shows the road ahead and identifies potential dangers such as pedestrians and animals in red.

"Video and head-up technology complement each other. The size of the head-up display is limited, so you have to think what you want to show there," says Mr Necker at Daimler.

Indeed, some of the most promising augmented-reality applications for the car make use of smartphones and tablets, rather than in-car technology.

Metaio, an augmented reality technology company based in Munich, has built a service and maintenance app for Volkswagen's ultra-fuel-efficient XL1. By pointing a tablet's camera at the car, a technician can see an image of the vehicle and its parts, and a virtual representation of the work steps required.

"Augmented reality helps you understand an ever-increasing stream of digitalised information," says Thomas Alt, Metaio chief executive. "This is not a gimmick, but driven by the need to make processes more efficient."

In theory, the era of full vehicle autonomy could allow an augmented reality windscreen to show more information about passing points of interest. But for now, drivers need to focus on driving, so distraction must be kept to a minimum.

"It's going to be some time before the driver can sit back, relax and watch a movie," says Mr Skrypchuk.

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