Automotive heads-up displays: Coming to a car near you?

Head-up displays, once confined to sports cars and luxury vehicles, are starting to penetrate the mass market and this is reflected in the forecast CAGR of 44%. By 2020, sales of heads-up displays are set to hit 9 million, up from 500,000 this year.

Audi, BMW, Lexus and Cadillac account for most of the models sold with head-up units within the U.S. Mercedes-Benz who previously did not embrace heads-up displays is expected to make them available on its C-class and S-class models this year.

With demand growing, top suppliers are viewing heads-up technology as a must-have. Nippon Seiki, Harman, Denso, Continental, Visteon, Bosch, Panasonic, Delphi and other suppliers are marketing head-up displays, but all are struggling to solve some nagging technology problems. Head-up displays require specially treated windshields, bulky optical equipment is needed to produce the image, and the optics box generates considerable heat.

Suppliers are solving those problems gradually with each new generation of equipment.

During the Detroit auto show, Panasonic unveiled a head-up unit that produces an image 16 inches wide by 6 inches high. That's roughly twice the size of most current head-up images.

Panasonic and other suppliers are racing to develop larger head-up images for "augmented reality" displays. Some possible uses might include highlighted lane markings in bad weather, visual warning symbols for road obstructions and turn-by-turn arrows.

It is yet to be clear whether heads-up displays will make it to the mass market, but with constant technological advancements and a continuous focus on safety - there may well be a heads-up display in your next car.

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