Hyundai unveils holographic head-up display

Hyundai has debuted a world-first holographic augmented reality navigation system at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today.

Developed in conjunction with Swiss company WayRay, the technology builds on earlier in-house holographic engineering efforts from Hyundai and is premiered in the Korean manufacturer’s Genesis G80 luxury sedan.

It’s hoped the technology will more efficiently communicate real-time guidance and navigation alerts to the driver, while also assisting with driver safety assistants, such as lane departure and forward collision warnings.

The holographic AR navigation system’s stereoscopic image is projected to appear as if it’s 15 metres ahead of the driver at a virtual size of 1310 x 3512mm, appearing as if the directions are laid-out on the road itself.

Hyundai hopes the technology will allow drivers to navigate safely while looking ahead undistracted, and will further develop the system to include rear-side warnings, traffic signals, surrounding vehicle information and even road and weather conditions in real time via a connectivity platform it calls V2X, or Vehicle to Everything.

“This demo car is the first step of the proof of concept, but is an important step towards technology driven innovation,” said Hyundai’s director of open innovation business group, Yunseong Hwang.

“Future mobility windshields will be more than just a piece of glass. AR holographic powered glass will serve as a platform to provide new services and open up new in-vehicle experiences.”

Hyundai’s pioneering technology could soon replace the on-windshield head-up display as we know it – and as the technology improves, may indeed replace the instrument panel, allowing a move away from the traditional dashboard as we’ve known it for 100 years.