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Carmakers Have Another Screen in Their Sights: Your Windshield
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
“NHTSA has issued some visual-manual driver distraction guidelines that might apply to some of the augmented reality stuff as it pertains to the driver, but those are essentially recommendations with no force of law,” explains Michael Brooks, Executive Director for the Center for Auto Safety.
By Liane Yvkoff
January 23, 2023
Augmented reality in vehicles is nothing new. In fact, it’s currently installed in millions of vehicles equipped with Head Up Display (HUD). But major car and tech companies think projection technology is about to become the next big thing as it expands beyond the driver’s cockpit. After all, what else are you supposed to look at, stuck sitting in your new electric car while it gasses up at a charging station?
BMW, which has championed HUD as safety technology in vehicles for the past two decades, demonstrated at Consumer Electronics Show 2023 a “mixed-reality slider” that will extend augmented reality across the bottom length of the windscreen. In addition to taking up more visual real estate, the next-generation technology aims to “blend the real and virtual worlds.” It’d potentially culminate in a full-screen display with the capability of turning the entire windshield into a big screen TV.