Auto makers have stuffed their vehicles with a dizzying array of technology over the years, from video screens to Bluetooth wireless to air bags. But one part of the car has remained stubbornly resistant to change: the windshield. (click below to read more)
That is about to change. Auto makers including General Motors Co. and Daimler AG are working on specially designed windshields that they hope will one day share with drivers crucial information about their surroundings, helping to improve safety and efficiency.
Using a technology known as augmented reality, which overlays real world images with digital ones, these windshields could display driving directions, text messages or impending hazards, all without requiring drivers to take their eyes off the road.
"Everyone's working on this," said Tom Seder, GM's chief technologist for human machine interface. "The goal is to reduce head-down time and maybe make driving a more interactive experience."
Augmented reality windshields are a natural extension for car makers in their quest to one-up the competition for safety. Such windshields are likely to have simple graphics allowing drivers to see digital renditions of their surroundings, such as difficult-to-see road edges or animals, as well as drawing attention to erratic drivers.
"It has to be done very judiciously, you don't want to clutter the windshield with too much information and cause it to be a distraction," said Mr. Seder. "At the root of this is the desire to make vehicles safer."
The technology would combine sensors outside the vehicle with ones inside tracking a driver's eyes.
So, for instance, an augmented reality windshield could sense that a driver hasn't seen a car merging into his or her lane or a sudden traffic slowdown ahead. The windshield might light up red or highlight the potential hazard to cause the driver to hit the brakes.
Following in the steps of aviation, a windshield that displays critical information isn't a new idea. GM, with its now-defunct Oldsmobile line, released vehicles as far back as the late 1980s that projected the speedometer onto the driver's glass.
Augmented reality has become a popular pursuit for tech companies these days. The technology is available in a variety of smartphones, which advertisers have used to beef up otherwise static ads. And app makers allow users to hold up their smartphones to display information about their surroundings, such as reviews of nearby restaurants.
Google Inc. is also working on augmented-reality headgear that can turn eyeglass lenses into a computer screen with superimposed graphics and other information.
Augmented reality windshields won't be available soon, however; both GM and Daimler said it would be at least five years before the windshields are embedded in vehicles and made available to the public.
The auto makers also haven't said how much an augmented reality windshield might add to the price of a vehicle, but said they would initially be an add-on for higher priced models.
But some prototypes of the windshield show what may be possible down the line.
Daimler showed off its version of what an augmented reality windshield would look like at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Like something out of the 2002 movie "Minority Report," Daimler envisions a windshield that can respond to hand motions to display information.
For example, the windshield could display factoids about a city's landmarks, or weather and traffic updates. It could also show social-media posts, all of which are found today on a mobile devices that requires the driver to look away from the road.
Johann Jungwirth, chief executive of Daimler's Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, said augmented reality windshields are ideal as drivers become more reliant on their smartphones to navigate through the day.
"If we can link the whole car, including the windshield, to drivers' smartphones you can imagine a future where so much of their world can be brought to them while they are driving," Mr. Jungwirth said.
He said drivers could upload their calendars to the windshield and view and respond to text messages.
"There is potentially no limit to what could be displayed on the windshield," Mr. Jungwirth said.
Dave Sullivan, an analyst with market researcher AutoPacific, said the technology still has to be proven to be safe before it can ever be sold to the public.
"The windshield is one area where you can't have a half-baked technology," he said. "This has to be flawless."
But, he said, while efforts to keep drivers' eyes on the road have had some success, particularly text-messaging safety campaigns, augmented reality windshields could cement it.
"Just take a look around when you're driving, everyone is on their device," Mr. Sullivan said. "Since people are going to do it, it becomes a question of whether any of the auto makers can come up with a technology like augmented reality windshields that will actually appeal to customers."
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