Automotive

Holographic Film Key Element in New Automotive Head-up Display

26 September 2024

HoloFlekt® technology can transform any windscreen or other glass structure into an ultra-bright, full color display

At the recent SID Vehicle Display and Interface Conference, Ford Motor Company gave a presentation that described how they are testing a holographic film laminated into a windshield for use as a Head-up Display (HUD). The holographic film, called HoloFlekt®, is manufactured by Ceres Holographics, with the windshield lamination done in cooperation with Eastman and Carlex.

In the presentation, Ford described how they are testing the HUD performance along with necessary automotive safety related impact testing and durability requirements. This work is now complete so detailed discussions on integrating the HUD into vehicles can now begin.

Andy Travers, CEO of Ceres Holographics says:

“Holographic films that contain Holographic Optical Elements (HOE) are an emerging class of optical device that can be used to bend, shape, or direct light. Simple HOE structures like gratings are used in waveguides to capture, direct and expand images for Augmented Reality (AR) devices. When integrated into the windshield of an automobile, and illuminated by an LED projector they create the images the driver sees on a transparent background without having to wear any additional head gear.”

“For the automotive HUD application, Ceres’s holographic film acts like a projection screen for an LED projector. While this may sound like a simple optical function (diffusion) to record, it is way more complicated. For example, the light from the LED projector arrives at the holographic film at different angles and distances from the projector. This projected light must be redirected into a fairly narrow driver eyebox with good uniformity and color fidelity. It must also maintain high resolution, be bright, but also highly transparent to external light.”