BMW’s full-color HUD: distraction, minimizer of distractions, or costly gadget?

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/124847-bmws-full-color-hud-distraction-minimizer-of-distractions-or-costly-tech-gadget

by evo_9 • 14 years ago

27 24 14 years ago

extremetech.com

georgieporgie• 14 years ago

Anything that gets drivers' eyes back in the general direction of the road is a good thing. As a bonus, putting data at (perceived) infinity means that older drivers who have become farsighted will have less difficulty reading their speed, GPS directions, etc.

There has been at least one add-on HUD-type display for motorcycle helmets for a few years (http://www.gizmag.com/go/2430/). Last I read they weren't technically legal for road use in the US, not that I think anyone would be ticketing you for it.

kooshball• 14 years ago

> There has been at least one add-on HUD-type display for motorcycle helmets for a few years (http://www.gizmag.com/go/2430/). Last I read they weren't technically legal for road use in the US, not that I think anyone would be ticketing you for it.

Has this ever ship? I know there were a few companies looking to do this for motorcycles where there is a huge benefit to not having to look down to check your speed.

There is another company that does similar things for skiing goggles that looks really interesting. http://www.reconinstruments.com/shop

jonnathanson2• 14 years ago

"Anything that gets drivers' eyes back in the general direction of the road is a good thing."

On that note, it's technologically possible these days to mount a tiny camera that would keep track of your eye movements and orientation, and would activate a danger signal -- or something to that effect -- when your eyes have been taken off the road for more than X consecutive seconds (i.e., if they're staring at a cell phone screen while you're texting).

So as not to be super-annoying, the X second interval would be ratcheted high enough not to freak out everytime you checked a side mirror or looked out the window, or at the radio dial, etc.

Seems to me that this sort of thing would save at least as many lives as the incessant beeping that new cars activate when you turn on the ignition without fastening your seatbelt.

Then again, maybe this is a terrible idea, bound to plague millions of drivers the way the seatbelt beeping does. I dunno. I'm just really sick of near-misses with idiots who are texting while driving.

Gormo• 14 years ago

> Seems to me that this sort of thing would save at least as many lives as the incessant beeping that new cars activate when you turn on the ignition without fastening your seatbelt.

I wonder what the net effect would be, considering the potential of drivers to be distracted by annoying beeping noises, or to condition themselves not to look out windows or in mirrors when doing so is more important than looking out the windshield.

> Then again, maybe this is a terrible idea, bound to plague millions of drivers the way the seatbelt beeping does. I dunno. I'm just really sick of near-misses with idiots who are texting while driving.

I'm not convinced that it's generally a good idea to outsource responsibility for safety to external devices, but if you're going to do it, in this case, it may be more reasonable to put the constraint in the phone rather than the car. It should be relatively trivial to restrict text entry when moving at high speeds on a phone with embedded GPS, and doing so would alter the behavior of the thing causing the distraction rather than the thing you want drivers to pay attention to.

Too• 14 years ago

You can get something similar in volvos today, driver alert control(DAC) they call it. It's based on how well you follow the road. If you start to drive wobbly compared to your "normal" driving pattern you get a warning. "Time for a break?" ...and an icon of a coffee cup :P

I remember a few years ago when the technology was ready but it was held back because they thought people would feel insulted by the car but apparently it got through to market now.

Ralith2• 14 years ago

Do these car huds use that parallax projection? The article made it sound like it was just a half-silvered mirror.

GiraffeNecktie• 14 years ago

This is a $1k option? Is there any reason why this couldn't be a relatively inexpensive after market product? I can pull information like speed etc out of the OBDII socket into my phone via a cheap bluetooth device. A projector can't be that expensive can it?

huhtenberg• 14 years ago

1. It needs a special windshield glass (special coating).

2. Mounting is rather complicated as the whole thing is sunk into the dash behind the instrument cluster. Not many cars (if any at all) have enough empty space there to accommodate the hardware.

motti_s• 14 years ago

Interesting, I guess it's more complicated than it sounds.

I wouldn't be surprised if many decades ago having a speedometer in a car was an expensive option. If HUDs catch on (and I hope they do), they'll become cheaper and who knows, maybe even standard equipment one day.

gamble• 14 years ago

Nav systems are still $1000+ options in many cars, when a superior Garmin costs $100. I'd be surprised if it didn't have a huge profit margin, like most optional upgrades on new cars.

tmh88j• 14 years ago

Check out the HUD in the second picture. It reads 77 kmh but the needle is reading about 68khm. I wish they'd use actual pictures. These poor Photoshops don't do any justice.

dominikb• 14 years ago

The HUD is very difficult to photograph. I have one in 5 series and you can see it only from a direct angle. Only the driver sees the HUD. These promotional photos are completely fabricated.

From my experience BMW's HUD is the greatest feature of all. Very useful. The speedometer helps drastically, you don't need to shift eyes from the road. Much safer driving.

mrsebastian• 14 years ago

FWIW, I think the first photo in the story is real (it was taken by our writer). I assume he held the camera right in front of his face :)

Domenic_S• 14 years ago

Did you bother reading the article? Under the picture you reference:

"They can project the temporary speed limit or other hazard information onto the HUD, as shown here."

MetalMASK• 14 years ago

It's a good (but wrong) analogy to compare to the "head-up" display on airplanes. However, driving is a 2D experience compared to flying. Pilot would need to pay attention to the surrounding in the 3D world where as driving, pretty much is just in a flat surface (you pay attention to your front, behind, left, right, that's it). I just cannot see the benefit of the HUD display in road driving use. There is no "head-up" necessary in this driving use case.

Ralith2• 14 years ago

There's no necessity to keep your eyes on the road and still have that information available to you?

It's not about 3D, it's about never having to look down at a dashboard instead of the real world.

davidu2• 14 years ago

My Audi has a HUD and it's great. It just becomes a part of driving and I find myself never looking at the dashboard anymore.

The adaptive cruise control, speedometer, and navigation is all available on the HUD -- it displays at appropriate times -- and is gone when I don't need it. When I'm about to hit a car in front of me, it gives a red warning that gets my attention.

It's really quite functional, and not distracting. You can dial-up and dial-down the contrast, which is worth doing. For me, it's easy to ignore if I don't want to see it.

But maybe, just maybe, it doesn't bother me because I grew up playing video games with health, points, and other metadata in the corner of my eyes growing up. :-)

barefoot• 14 years ago

How visible is it during the day?

davidu2• 14 years ago

pretty good. you see it when you want to see it. hard to explain that more clearly. The speedometer is white text, so when driving over very light colored ground, it's hard to see, like inside a concrete parking garage. But on asphalt or dirt, it's easy to see.

fabricode• 14 years ago

I've used the HUD available on the C5 Corvette, and it's no more distracting at first than any new car's radio, wiper controls, etc.

Once you've driven with it for a bit, it really does increase the attention paid to the road. Your quick checks for speed, gas, tach are instead diverted to mirror checks or just keeping your eyes on what's happening ahead.

That said, the Corvette's was a monochromatic subtle display. I'm not sure what the impact of full-color high-resolution information would be. One always has to be wary of the "ooo... let's watch the odometer rollover to the next 10,000" kind of distraction.

to3m• 14 years ago

Do you have to check the petrol gauge so often, that it's a great boon having it on the HUD?

CountHackulus• 14 years ago

It's a C5 Corvette, yes.

bengoodger• 14 years ago

I owned a Nissan Altima once that had this feature and loved it there. The technology was simple - 7 segment display in the dash reflecting off the screen above. Now I'm driving a '11 550i that also has this feature - with the beautiful full color presentation. It's not distracting. If anything it makes me painfully aware when driving other cars that I'm constantly forced to move my gaze from traffic to check my speed.

I do understand BMW's hesitation to load too much information into this display. Most car companies are notably horrible at user interface for the new technology they integrate into the car (BMW has a spotty track record here too with its early iDrive iterations). For example the new Lexus GS appears to persistently show radio station information in the HUD. This is not something that I need to see full time, only when I'm channel surfing. Jaguar does a nice job of showing relevant info at the right time in its non-HUD LCD instrument cluster, replacing the tach with other info at relevant moments.

One thing I've really wanted is for a car's display stack to be built on a customizable platform, like Android or iOS, where third parties can integrate data. This way you can change the UI to suit your need, or integrate third party modules (like a radar detector). Definitely some care needs to be exercised here so as not to produce too much distraction, but I do think some of the features in new cars may have jumped this shark already (my 550 lets me do simple posts to Facebook from the dashboard screen - while driving!).

BMW’s full-color HUD: distraction, minimizer of distractions, or costly gadget?

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