General Motors demonstrated an “augmented reality” system that projects laser lines onto a car’s windshield. The lines can mark the edges of the road at night, highlight traffic signs or show where a destination is located. The laser is projected by scanning technology (e.g., it is vector and not raster). According to Physorg.com, “the GM head-up display was created by Superimaging and uses a windshield made of a special glass coated with transparent phosphors, which are clear synthetic materials that glow red or blue when stimulated by tiny UV laser beams bounced off mirrors bundled together near the windshield.”
GM's laser-projected windshield display shows the road edge in low-visibility conditions. Note the curving line ends, showing where the beam begins and ends drawing the line segment.
According to information at Superimaging’s website, their “TransPlay” laser projection system uses standard galvanometer scanners (3o,000 pts/sec speed on the ILDA test pattern) with an ILDA interface so it is “compatible with laser show controllers from Pangolin, Riya, and many more.” A photo of the projector shows it to be a box about 3″ x 4″ x 1.5″, with an attached lens about 2″ long. The other key part of the GM system is MediaGlass optically clear film. It has phosphors suspended in it which glow under UV light. GM is using the two-color MediaGlass film which glows blue under 405 nm light, and red under 365-375 nm light.
The augmented reality portion of GM’s system uses sensors, both visible and infrared, to detect objects outside the car, and cameras inside the car to detect where the driver is looking. A computer then extracts important information such as road edges, cars in the driver’s blind spot, animals at the side of the road, road signs and important buildings or locations along the way.
The demonstration system would not be ready for commercial use before at least 2016.
The system has received widespread press; two sources for more information are Popular Science and Physorg.com.
