Groundbreaking navigation: the augmented reality head-up display
Our ID. models offer intuitive and equally innovative navigation through traffic. With the optional augmented reality head-up display, they have a world premiere on board, which fuses information and reality directly in the driver’s visual field.
Representation/ illustration similar to reality.
A technology that is fundamentally changing the way we drive
As a driver of an ID. model, you always have the option of calling up your navigation, thanks to a technology that seamlessly integrates virtual elements into the real world. The augmented reality head-up display is an information instrument that expands the reality to include texts, images or three-dimensional animations. This allows useful information and warning signs within the scope of system limits to be projected directly in the windscreen’s visual field. And the driver can respond immediately.
This transforms the windscreen into a screen
The information is depicted on two image planes – one in close range for static 2D and one in far range for dynamic 3D displays. Throughout the entire time, the large window displays information about the navigation or assist systems at a virtual distance of about 10 metres in front of the car. Instead of a navigation map, the driver sees turning arrows and destinations precisely where they are driving along – on the roadway.
The near-range window is located directly below this large far-range window. It shows status displays such as speed and road signs, which appear to hover approximately three metres in front of the driver. These displays do not communicate a direct need for action. Therefore, the driver can also keep an eye on forecast information, without losing sight of the road.
Complex technology simply explained
The central element of the augmented reality head-up display is located deep inside the dash panel: the picture generation unit. It generates bundles of rays that are transmitted from an LCD display to two flat mirrors. That is where the shares for close and far range are separated and projected via a large concave mirror onto the windscreen.
To ensure that the driver sees the information with the correct distance to the surroundings, one of the two central computers in the vehicle calculates the placement of the symbols. The front camera, radar sensor and navigation map deliver the raw data for this. Finally, the AR depictions are stabilised and adjusted to suit the geometry of the projection optics.