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General Motors has been experimenting with heads-up displays since the Fall
of the Berlin Wall. Even Granma's Buick came with a speedometer that projected
numbers (generally not higher than 30 mph) onto the windshield. Today, drivers
are inundated with more information than ever before. Navigation systems are
helpful and XM radio is fun, but a distracted driver is a dangerous driver.
That's why General Motors is hard at work on a more practical heads-up display -
one that covers the car's entire windshield.
At GM's R&D Center in Warren, Michigan, the Detroit-based automaker is
working with university researchers to design an integrated system with night
vision, navigation, and on-board cameras. The light is from lasers - small, ultraviolet
ones that project data from sensors and cameras onto the glass. "Let's say you're
driving in fog," explains GM's Thomas Seder, "we could use the vehicle's
infrared cameras to identify where the edge of the road is and the lasers could
'paint' the edge of the road onto the windshield."
The windshield Seder speaks about is coated with transparent phosphors that
emit light under laser excitation. By turning the car's windshield into a monitor,
this technology allows drivers to "see" things that are beyond their immediate
field of vision. Unlike with heads-down displays, however, motorists won't have
to create their own mental models. Rather, they can more readily perceive a threat's
exact location in space.
Car buyers may like vehicles with advanced safety systems, but does
GM risk "dumbing down" driving to dangerous levels?
Source: Autopia
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Re: Should the Entire Windshield Be a Heads-Up Display?
