Automotive Head-up Display
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An automotive
head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
or automotive heads-up display —also known as a auto-HUD— is any transparent display that presents data in the
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. At this time, there are three different approaches to OEM HUDs in automobiles. The first is to treat the back of the
windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...
in such a way that an image projected onto it will reflect to the driver. The second is to have a small combiner that is separate from the windshield. Combiners can be retracted. The third is to laminate a transparent display in between layers of the windshield glass.


Timeline

*1988: Nissan was the first manufacturer to offer a HUD in the JDM market with the 1988
Nissan Silvia S13 The is the series of small sports cars produced by Nissan. Versions of the Silvia have been marketed as the 200SX or 240SX for export, with some export versions being sold under the Datsun brand. The name "Silvia" is derived from Sylvia, th ...
. *1988:
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
began using head-up displays. Their first HUD units were installed on
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is a mid-size car produced by Oldsmobile between 1966 and 1997. It was positioned as a premium offering at the top of the Cutlass range. It began as a trim package, developed its own roofline, and rose during the mi ...
Indy Pace Cars and replicas. Optional HUD units were subsequently offered on the Cutlass Supreme and
Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans. First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varied ...
before being more widely available. *1989–1994: Nissan offered a head-up display in the
Nissan 240SX The Nissan 240SX is a sports compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1989 for the 1990 model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX (S12) model. Most of the 240SXs were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engi ...
. *1991:
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, for the Japanese market only, released a HUD system for the
Toyota Crown Majesta The is a full-size luxury sedan from Toyota. It is an upmarket variant of the Crown and serves as Toyota's flagship model in various countries. The Crown Majesta appeared after the international introduction of the Celsior/Lexus LS in late 1 ...
. *1998: The first High Content Reconfigureable display appeared on the Chevrolet Corvette (C5). (1999 Model Year) *1999:Cadillac DTS with night-vision via Head-up Display.( model Year 2000) *2003 :
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
introduced a HUD system for the
Cadillac XLR The Cadillac XLR is a front-engine, rear-drive, two passenger roadster manufactured and marketed by Cadillac from 2003 to 2009 across a single generation — and noted for its power retractable hardtop, Bulgari designed interior instruments ...
. *2003: BMW was involved in large developments for automotive HUD systems for the 2003 E60
5 Series The BMW 5 Series is an executive car manufactured and marketed by BMW since 1972, succeeding the New Class Sedans, and currently in its seventh generation. The 5 Series was initially available as a sedan, with a wagon/estate body style (market ...
. *2012:
Pioneer Corporation commonly referred to as Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair s ...
introduced a navigation system that projects a HUD in place of the driver's visor that presents animations of conditions ahead, a form of augmented reality (AR). These displays are becoming increasingly available in production cars, and usually offer
speedometer A speedometer or speed meter is a gauge that measures and displays the instantaneous speed of a vehicle. Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the early 20th century, and as standard equipment f ...
,
tachometer A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated anal ...
, and
navigation system A navigation system is a computing system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling (for example, on the ship's bridge) or located elsewhere, making use of radio or othe ...
displays.
Night vision Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vi ...
information is also displayed via HUD on certain
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
,
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and
Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
vehicles. Other manufactures such as
Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...
, BMW,
Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
,
Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
,
Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
,
Kia Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...
, Mercedes and
Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
currently offer some form of HUD system.
Motorcycle helmet A motorcycle helmet is a type of helmet used by motorcycle riders. Motorcycle helmets contribute to motorcycle safety by protecting the rider's head in the event of an impact. They reduce the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 42%. ...
HUDs are also commercially available. Add-on HUD systems also exist, projecting the display onto a glass combiner mounted on the windshield. These systems have been marketed to police agencies for use with in-vehicle computers.


Eyes-on-the-Road-Benefit

The Eyes-on-the-Road-Benefit (ERB), also known as the Head-Up-Display-Advantage, is the term given to the purported advantages provided to motorists when driving using a
head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
(HUD). This can also be referred to as a heads-up-device or heads-up design, as compared to traditional dashboard designs, which are referred to as Head-Down-Design (HDD). A HUD is an instrument used to communicate information, such as speed, from a vehicle to the driver or pilot. HUDs can either be built into a vehicle or can be bought aftermarket and installed to a vehicle's dashboard. The benefit of Eyes-on-the-Road systems stems from increased situational awareness and elimination of the need to look away from the road whilst driving, thereby increasing reaction time to external hazards, such as pedestrians. There is some evidence to suggest that the scope of the ERB is limited to low cognitive load situations in which the driving task is not particularly complex.


Aetiology

Research into the ERB primarily utilizes
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
driving simulators to mimic real life driving scenarios while eliminating situational variability. In order to examine HUDs and HDDs, studies often compare hazard reaction time, situational awareness, and quality of driving (such as speed consistency) using both systems. The extent of the ERB on different
demographics Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
, particularly those of age and experience level, are of particular interest. The interaction between work-load and the influence of ERB are also frequently examined for research.


Exogenous saccadic gaze

Saccadic gaze is the perceptual mechanism through which the eye is inadvertently drawn to external stimulus without the individual's conscious action. An involuntary gaze is most easily drawn by movement or distinct changes in illumination in an individual's visual field. These external stimuli can be beneficial in such situations as the movement of a pedestrian about to walk out onto the road, in turn allowing the driver to take evasive action. Exogenous cues can also be irrelevant, and often dangerous, leading to distraction from goal behaviours, such as the flashing of a cellphone taking one's eyes off the road. By superimposing vital driving information onto the horizon in a driver's direct line of sight, HUDS allow important exogenous cues, like the movements of other vehicles to draw the gaze of a driver whilst they monitor vital vehicle feedback such as speed or revolution count. It is theorized that this can facilitate faster reaction times to hazards and improve situational awareness. A collaborative project betwee
Faurecia Groupe
and
Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute wa ...
develope
an eye gaze and finger controlled head up display
for cars that can als
automatically estimate drivers’ cognitive load and distraction


Ideal visual field

The ideal
visual field The visual field is the "spatial array of visual sensations available to observation in introspectionist psychological experiments". Or simply, visual field can be defined as the entire area that can be seen when an eye is fixed straight at a point ...
is the area in which stimuli are most accurately, rapidly, and efficiently processed by the eye. In humans, this field is thought to be within 20 degrees above or below the vertical meridian of an individual's gaze and 60 degrees either side of the horizontal meridian. If an object is beyond these boundaries it will require eye movement to bring the stimuli out of periphery. By including feedback instruments in the primary field of vision, HUDs allow for the horizon and all associated stimuli to stay in the primary field vision where the information may still be processed and acknowledged by a motorist.


Manifestation


Reaction time

Reaction time Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; sometimes referred to as "response time") is meas ...
, and more specifically delayed reaction, is widely cited as a key contributor to vehicular accidents. Reaction time in relation to the ERB is defined as the time it takes for a motorist to react to an external hazard or stimuli and then carry out the appropriate reaction, or evasive maneuver such as braking when a vehicle in front stops. The feedback offered by an HUD is projected onto the windshield of a vehicle with the aim of integrating outside stimuli and the instrumental feedback; thus removing the need to remove a driver's eyes from the road. Studies of reaction time to hazards in HUD vs HDD designs have found that the average reaction times for HUD are faster. This trend appears to continue across demographics, including both categories of experience level and age.


Speed maintenance and driving quality

Speed maintenance is the extent to which a driver maintains a speed and adjusts their speed to suit traffic laws and environmental conditions. The use of HUDs appears to produce better speed maintenance in drivers under experimental conditions when compared to HDDs. It is theorized that this is because having the
speedometer A speedometer or speed meter is a gauge that measures and displays the instantaneous speed of a vehicle. Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the early 20th century, and as standard equipment f ...
at the eye level of the vehicle operator allows for continuous monitoring of the vehicle's speed. HUD use also appears to increase general driving quality, including staying within road markings, and increased smoothness of driving and navigation abilities. Drivers’ capacity to focus on external cues, such as road texture, road demarcations and street signs is increased by using a seamless interface where focus on the road isn't interrupted to assess speed and other information.


Limitations


Work load

The influence of ERB on drivers is not universal. There is evidence that as the complexity of driving tasks increases, the benefits of using a HUD are decreased, and in some circumstances, they are no longer statistically significant. The ERB is diminished, for example, when individuals are driving cognitively demanding vehicles, such as industrial vehicles, or when they are asked to multitask while driving. One study has shown that when placed in a cognitively demanding condition, individuals shift their focus from the road alone to focus on other tasks such as shifting gears or talking to others. Subsequently, a driver's ability to process HUD feedback requires diversion of attention, much akin to that which occurs whilst using a HDD.


Placement

There are limitations for where a HUD can be placed or projected in a vehicle before it begins to diminish the ERB and becomes more of a distraction. HUDs can be constructed so that the instrumental feedback appears to be projected out into the horizon, rather than displayed directly on the windshield. In test situations, a projected HUD which appears near the nose of the vehicle is said to result in the most rapid response times and best situational awareness on the part of the driver, as well as facilitating better driving quality. For in-glass laminated HUD, the display glass part is integrated in the windshield while the electronics shall be placed and hidden inside the vehicle body. The information is displayed directly on the windshield.


See also

* * * *


References


External links


Virtual widescreen

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