The driver’s view in the Ford/Ceres system. © Ceres Holographics

Ford, working with Ceres Holographics, showed off last week what could become the future of head-up displays, or HUDs as they’re commonly known.

HUDs almost magically display useful information such as speed and turn-by-turn directions on the lower part of the windshield, where it can be seen without taking the driver’s eyes off the road. For years now, automakers and their suppliers have imagined an autonomous world in which cars drive themselves, and the glass currently needed to see traffic could be turned into big display scenes at will. But the arrival of full self-driving is still a long way off.

At a conference in Detroit, Ford displayed an interim step: what might be called HUD 2, a bright, clear display stretching across the windshield with three sections, two for the driver and one for the passenger. The latter, which could include projected video, would not be visible to the driver.

Andy Travers, the CEO of Ceres Holographics, says that the new display possibilities could be interactive, and help solve the dangerous situation of driver distraction using current controls.

“It’s compelling cost-wise for automakers to put everything on the screen,” Travers says. “And they’re hiring programmers who are used to working with computers, not mobile cars that need to have drivers watching the road. We think it’s a lot better to make choices from projected images on the windshield than having to look away to a centrally mounted screen.” 

The windshield incorporates Ceres-developed (with Eastman and Carlex) thin-film technology that is produced with embedded holographic optical elements and then sandwiched between laminated glass sections to enable a transparent display of any kind of information. Travers says the film will not discolor over time. An inexpensive LED projector, technology in use now, is built into the instrument panel.

Read full article on Barron’s website here.