Engineers at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge, are developing a powerful new 3D head-up display that could project real-time safety information and warnings directly in front of the driver while they’re at the wheel. The technology will help avoid the need to take your eyes off the road to check the next turn while giving you early notice of oncoming obstacles.
The 3D head-up display will project safety alerts, such as lane departure, hazard detection, and sat-nav directions, and improve visibility in challenging conditions. The team explained that the use of Augmented Reality would add the perception of depth to the image by mapping the messages directly onto the road ahead.
The head and eye-tracking technology would ensure users can view the 3D effects without using individual screens or cinema-style glasses.
Apart from safety, the 3D displays could offer users an entirely unique and personalized experience. When vehicles become fully autonomous, the new technology will allow passengers to stream 3D movies directly from their seats as part of a shared, autonomous future.
“Several passengers sharing a journey would be able to enjoy their own choice of media – including journey details, points of interest or movies – and optimized for where they are sat,” researchers wrote in a press release.
The research, undertaken in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) at the University of Cambridge, is aimed at creating an immersive display that would “closely match” real-world experiences, which would, in turn, enable drivers to react more naturally to hazards and prompts.
Further details of the technology itself are not available yet, but it could potentially help us to move towards a safer, more intuitive, and smarter future.
“Development in virtual and augmented reality is moving really quickly. This consortium takes some of the best technology available and helps us to develop applications suited to the automotive sector,” said Valerian Meijering, Human Machine Interface & Head-Up Display Researcher for Jaguar Land Rover.
Journal Reference
- Broy, Nora. Stereoscopic 3D user interfaces: exploring the potentials and risks of 3D displays in cars. DOI: 10.18419/opus-8851