3D HUD, Virtual Cabins the Vision of Audi Chairman
The technology we’ll be finding in our new cars over the next few years will undoubtedly provide lots of excitement, especially if that new car is an Audi. Speaking at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011), Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler shared his visions of 3D graphic displays and a more connected, more mobile car of the future with a packed crowd. The future of driving will be a more entertaining and engaging experience that will also help keep the driver attentive on the road. Audi calls it the driver’s infotainment experience.
One of the most intriguing next-gen features that Audi has been developing in partnership with Elektrobit Automotive and NVIDIA is a crystal-clear and vivid 3D heads-up display (HUD) which superimposes turn-by-turn arrows on upcoming streets. In addition, the HUDs will display all of the vehicle’s vitals and gauges. “We found that if things are presented more realistically, they require less driver attention and limit driver distraction,” Stadler announced.
According to NVIDIA’s founder and CEO Jenson Huang, who was also on hand at the CES, Tegra 2 (the system that currently powers the Audi A8′s MMI) is already powerful enough to create “virtual cockpits”, cockpits with fully digital displays and instruments.
“We can simulate any material,” Huang told the crowd. “We can simulate metal. We can simulate aluminum or wood. But in this particular one (he points to a projected image) we’re simulating glass. And you can notice all the various reflections, refractions, shadows and lighting.”
Stadler closed out the presentation with a prediction that seems more and more realistic as every day passes. “Ultimately we see a world where the car is fully connected to the world of the internet, to other cars, as well as to traffic and other data streams. The car of the future is part of the mobile world, in every sense of that word.”
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