Anyone who has ever driven a car in a driving-focused videogame will likely vouch that having the same sort of information you get on the screen appear on the windscreen of your actual car, or on the visor of your crash helmet, would be very useful indeed. Whether that is seeing directions to your destination, finding information about your ride, traffic and weather updates, etc.
Over the years on VRFocus we’ve kept you up to date with the developments in this area, as well as information relating to investment in either virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – the latter being something we’ll be specifically be discussing later today. However, in this instance both topics have come together, after Silicon Valley developer of holographic waveguide projection technology, DigiLens Inc announced that it would be receiving additional investment from motoring firm Continental.
Continental AG, which is probably best known for its road tyre business but is also involved in other automotive technologies from engines and fuel consumption to car safety, made the investment in a Class C financing round increasing its prior investment made two years ago. This leaves it holding nearly 18 percent of DigiLens at a point where it is ready to begin rolling out AutoHUD – a waveguide-based head-up display (HUD) it has been developing for a range of transport related purposes.
“By reducing the size of head-up displays, this waveguide technology truly holds the potential to revolutionize the market,” Explains Thorsten-Alexander Kern, Head of HUD Product Development at Continental’s business unit Instrumentation & Driver HMI and member of the DigiLens Board of Directors. Referring to the AutoHUD’s development having reduced component volume to one-sixth of the usual size found. “Seeing the first promising results, we are happy that we could increase our investment in DigiLens and further work together in order to bring this exciting technology on the road.”
“Based on the waveguide technology, we see a great potential to realize augmented reality head-up displays also for a broad market.”
“As a result of strong encouragement after several customer demonstrations, we are excited to intensify our joint efforts and accelerate development. Continental’s support at the highest level is a testament to their enthusiasm and our common values,” added CEO of DigiLens Chris Pickett. “Engineers from both of our companies are pioneering a disruptive solution.”
VRFocus will bring you more news regarding the development of this technology as it becomes available.
via Mint VR