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Canal Motor
Martes, 14 de enero 2025, 13:55
Head-up display (HUD) systems are becoming increasingly complex and are now available in a wider range of models and segments. BMW, a brand that has heavily invested and innovated in this technology, unveiled a new head-up display concept at the CES in Las Vegas, shedding light on the future of this technology.
The new BMW Panoramic Vision projects content visible to all occupants on a black-printed surface along the entire lower part of the windshield. The most important driving information is projected directly into the driver's line of sight, with customizable content and integrated 3D navigation information for both the driver and passengers.
Various studies show that with a head-up display, a driver can receive and process important information in one second, halving the time spent moving the head, directing the gaze to a screen, and focusing the eyes. Additionally, during that second, the driver's peripheral vision is focused on the road, whereas looking at a screen results in almost total loss of the ability to receive information about what is happening in front of the vehicle.
The challenge for next-generation systems is how to convey more information, integrate safety alerts—such as guides that appear when driving dangerously close to another vehicle—and expand the immersive experience with greater breadth and depth.
All of this aims to improve and make driving safer without causing counterproductive effects, such as distractions or loss of visibility of real traffic. To achieve this, new HUD technologies in development must strike a delicate balance between many factors related to the nature of vision, human perception and information assimilation capabilities, as well as the technology needed to achieve the goal.
The Belron Group, parent company of Carglass Spain, has created a new working group to address challenges related to the installation of windshields with new HUD technologies. This team will focus on ensuring material quality, optimizing installation processes, understanding customer opinions, and developing best practices to offer better HUD services.
The field of view (FOV) of an ideal HUD with augmented reality should cover at least two lanes (the vehicle's driving lane and half a lane on each side) for effective adaptation to traffic situations and surrounding vehicles and roads. Considering a lane width of approximately 3.5 meters, the minimum horizontal field of view should be 20°, whereas current HUDs only offer 10°.
The VID (Virtual Image Distance) represents the distance between the virtual image and the human eye. At least two virtual depth planes are required: a near-depth plane at 2-5 meters to present driving status information, such as speed and fuel level; and a virtual plane more than 20 meters away to present navigation and safety information related to real traffic.
The goal is for future HUD systems to offer multiple virtual image planes and variable depth planes to provide virtual information that matches the depth and distance of natural objects. Additionally, the distances at which information appears should vary with speed. The 3D AR HUD can present information at different apparent distances depending on speed, for example, 20 meters ahead when driving at 40 km/h in urban areas, and 80 meters ahead when driving at 100 km/h on highways. This enhances the driving experience, as the driver can naturally focus and defocus virtual icons as they would with real objects, creating a more natural and comfortable experience.
On the other hand, the size of the eye box in which information is displayed must also strike a balance: a large eye box "covers" more but prevents the loss of driving information during vehicle roll and allows drivers to slightly adjust their driving position.
Another challenge is what information to offer and how to deliver it to the driver. The amount of available information is immense, but an excess of data, icons, and symbols integrated with the environment could have counterproductive effects, making it difficult to see the overall picture, creating too many focal points, hindering information assimilation, and causing distractions.
The system must determine which information is most relevant to the driver at any given moment. Safety alerts should be prioritized, regardless of the configuration selected by the driver. Similarly, pop-up icons, such as arrows indicating the exact location of a navigation destination or the street to turn onto, should appear at the exact moment, replacing other information. All of this should occur without too many changes to the basic data and icon scheme that the driver sees, which can also cause confusion and distraction.
Achieving optimal categorization of information by size, color codes, and focal distance is key. The organic separation of virtual information into different depths can improve the effectiveness and fluidity of information presentation. Playing with different focuses and degrees of opacity, with the most relevant messages sharply focused and more opaque, and the rest blurring and becoming more transparent based on their importance, can also be a way forward.
A study conducted by analysts at IDTechEx, based on their experience in displays and photonics, electric vehicles, and vehicle autonomy, recommends conducting further research to streamline the information displayed, improve the clarity and conciseness of the interface, and develop more intuitive and user-friendly human-machine interfaces to reduce attention load. Additionally, maximum attention should be paid to improving user-centered personalized experiences.
The technology being developed must cover all these factors, in addition to certain basic technical requirements, such as achieving a high luminance of over 10,000 nits of brightness, an operating temperature range of -40 to 85 degrees Celsius, a lifespan of over 10,000 hours without degradation, and low energy consumption. All of this must be achieved with costs, vehicle implementation capability, and scalability that enable large-scale implementation.
Currently, vehicle HUDs primarily use LCD-TFT projection technology. Alternative technologies such as digital light processing (DLP), computer-generated holography (CGH), laser scanning MEMS, and microLEDs are being developed, presenting promising opportunities.
In particular, CGH systems have gained significant traction, with companies planning to launch products for vehicles in the coming years. This technique uses a coherent light source, such as a laser, providing exceptional brightness and allowing the projection of three-dimensional virtual images without loss of resolution. This technology surpasses the barrier of two-dimensional screens, which build the sensation of depth through image processing algorithms but cannot make a continuous and variable reconstruction of depth. In addition to achieving this, 3D HUDs offer more accurate distances, regardless of the viewing angle or the driver's head position.
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