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| Head-up displays and more at Convergence 2004
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26/10/04 |
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Head-up displays, so long the preserve of the military and those who were prepared to pay a great deal of money for not much, may be about to break into the mainstream of OEM production.
Advances in optical technology combined with huge strides in processor power and battery management technology is combining to make possible the creation of HUD systems that will be smaller and more simple to read, according to speakers at the October Convergence 2004 automotive electronics conference in Detroit.
Dupont Automotive announced that they had teamed up with Motorola to produce a package they hope, provide more information than is currently shown and result in the widespread acceptance of the technology. The key to success, according to Michael Sanders, global director of automotive safety at Dupont, is the downsizing of the basic unit. The company had, he said, matched up the new Motorola unit - about the size of two sugar cubes - with its own screen that was designed as an interlayer in the vehicle's windshield.
Renewed interest in the concept of HUD has, at least in part, been driven by the arrival of the BMW iDrive as a means of accessing information held in a vehicle's on-board computer. Criticism of the iDrive interface has led to a re-examination of the way in which the information can be displayed, leading to a fresh look of the role of HUDs.
Reading navigational and/or safety related information on an eye level screen was, said Gardiner, much safer than requiring a driver to look down at the instrument cluster on the dashboard. The acceleration of the new device into medium and low-end models is also likely to be helped by its lower energy consumption, a serious consideration given the significant demands for electrical power made by modern vehicles.
On the subject of electrical power, attendees at the Convergence 2004 conference, were told the development of 42-volt batteries had been put on a lower level of priority than was the case a year ago and been replaced by greater attention to the more efficient management of the existing 12-volt variety. David Ladd, a spokesman for Siemens VDO said that the company had harnessed electronics to help better manage the current from the 12-volt system, thereby extending its capability, a process made easier by the drive towards the miniaturisation of electrical components and devices.
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