Probably inspired by the competition's vision of the future, American manufacturer GM announced yesterday it is working on a revolutionary head-up display, which will use sensors, cameras and lasers to render images of the road ahead, on the entire windscreen, even in very poor visibility conditions.
The full windshield head-up system, still being researched by GM, the Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Southern California, will use a series of transparent phosphors, which emit visible light when excited by a light beam, to turn the entire glass surface in front of the driver into a transparent display.
According to GM, such a system will allow drivers to be alerted of potential dangers that may exist outside of the normal field of vision. In poor visibility conditions, the super-HUD will be combined with the night vision system to pinpoint "the precise location" of objects or beings on the side of the road.
"This design is superior to traditional head down display-based night vision systems, which require a user to read information from a traditional display, create a mental model and imagine the threat’s precise location in space,” Thomas Seder, group lab manager for GM R&D said.
The technology can also be combined with the automated sign reading technology and can use the navigation system, making it the perfect tool to use when the eyes of the driver can no longer be trusted.
There's no word on when this mother of all HUDs will be ready. Also, GM says it hasn't designed the system for a specific car, but only tries to see if it can be done. And, apparently, it can...
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