Jaguar Land Rover Introduces Holographic Head-up Display

In 1988, General Motors brought the first head-up display (HUD) to market. Designed with the intent to keep driver attention on the road, these systems display vital information, such as vehicle speed and warning messages, in the driver’s field of vision.

Today, this technology is widely available, but the Univ. of Cambridge and Jaguar have teamed up to offer the first HUD to use laser holographic techniques to project information.

“We’re moving towards a fully immersive driver experience in cars, and we think holographic technology could be a big part of that, by providing important information, or even by encouraging good driver behavior,” said Prof. Daping Chu, of the university’s Dept. of Engineering and the Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE).



The new technology was recently implemented in all Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, but was first offered as an option in September 2014.

“The development of a laser holographic HUD presented a number of technical challenges but also a number of benefits including…high optical efficiency, wide color gamut and cross platform compatibility,” said Lee Skrypchuk, the Human Machine Interface Technical Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover

According to the Univ. of Cambridge, the new technique provides a 2-D display with better color, brightness and contrast in a smaller package. However, it is still in its fledgling stages.

“What we really want to see is a fully 3-D display which can provide much more information to the driver in a non-intrusive way,” said Chu.

In the future, a plethora of information may be available on a HUD. “For example, if the driver passes a petrol station, perhaps the price of the petrol at that station could flash up in the corner,” Chu said. Additionally, future HUD displays may be capable of alerting drivers to pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles in the driver’s environment. It could alert drivers if they’re drowsy or intoxicated. “You can have all of this information with an augmented reality approach—your screen is your world, really,” said Chu. “What I want is for the driver to have an immersive experience in how they connect to the world.”

Chu said the new HUD developments would accent well with the developing world of autonomous cars and driverless vehicles.