HUD – Immersive Learning News

Cadillac’s AR Navigation System Looks Pretty Darn Cool

A new video offers a closer look at the 2021 Cadillac Escalade’s AR-powered GPS navigation system.

With the recent developments in immersive technology over the past few years, AR navigation has been somewhat of a hot-button topic within the automobile industry.

We’ve seen numerous manufacturers flirt with the idea of interactive windshields and AR-enhanced heads-up displays in the past, such as WayRay’s AR HUD for Porsche or Panasonic’s AI-powered AR HUD. Now it appears as though high-end car manufacturer Cadillac is getting in on the augmented action.

This month we received a closer look at the AR navigation system featured in the new 2021 Cadillac Escalade, which promises distraction-free on-screen navigation brought to life by AR notifications. In a video provided by the company, actor Lamman Rucker (Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married, Meet the Browns) guides us through the capabilities of the luxury SUVs AR HUD.

After marking his destination using the touchscreen display, a live feed of the road is broadcasted directly to the curved 38-inch dashboard located above the wheel. Whenever Rucker is presented with a new direction by the onboard navigation system, digital turn signals appear directly over the real world, indicating which direction in which to turn. Think of it like Google Maps’ Live View feature or Apple Maps’ AR walking directions, but in a car.

“Augmented reality is a great feature,” says Cadillac Escalade Product Manager, David Schiavone in the video. “It actually takes a live street view and puts it in the cluster display and if you’ve got a navigational route in there, you will see a big set of arrows that tell you, “this is the time to turn right now.”

“It’s beautiful. I’m looking at exactly what I’m looking at in front of me right here,” adds Rucker. “I mean, the colors are vivid, the grass is green as it can get, water blue as it can get. I love how when you get closer to where you’ve got to make your decision, these blue arrows get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. You know that this is exactly where to turn; can’t get lost in this vehicle.”

In addition to the visual indicators, the navigation system also makes use of key audio cues. The closer you get to a turn, the louder the audio becomes.

While we’re still more than likely a long way off from AR-enhanced windshields going mainstream, Cadillac’s AR heads-up display marks an important step forward for AR navigation. Expect to see these kinds of features making their way to additional models and brands moving forward.

For more on the 2021 Cadillac Escalade, visit here.

Quelle:

Cadillac’s AR Navigation System Looks Pretty Darn Cool

Feature Image Credit: Cadillac

9. Juli 2021 0 comment

Hardware Knowledge

F-35 Pilot: The AR Helmet’s Field Of View Is Too Narrow

In an interview with aviation magazine Hush-Kit, an anonymous F-35 pilot complained about the field of view of the jet’s AR helmet.

The F-35 is a multi-decade project by the United States & its global military allies to replace legacy “workhorse” aircraft like the F-16, F/A-18, and Harrier with a high tech multi-role stealth fighter with three variants.

AR helmets have been added to some previous fighter jets in mid-life upgrades, but F-35 was designed with it in mind from the start. As well as overlaying icons for friendly & enemy vehicles, the helmet can fuse the input from the six high resolution infrared (IR) sensors embedded in the aircraft, allowing the pilot to look through the airframe, or see in IR at night. All for the low price of $400,000.

The F-35 is the first modern fighter jet without a physical heads-up-display (HUD) in front of the pilot – the helmet overlays a 360° virtual HUD instead.

But according to the pilot Hush-Kit interviewed, the helmet’s AR field of view isn’t as wide as it needs to be:

“The technology of the helmet is great, but I’d take a HUD any day. It all comes down to physics – you can only shrink things so much before they start to become degraded, and HUDs have bigger optics than helmets…currently.“

While the pilot doesn’t use the phrase field of view – most people still aren’t familiar with it – it’s obvious that’s what’s meant by “bigger optics”, and the same issue is mentioned again at the end of the interview:

“The sheer amount of situational awareness I gain from this aircraft and its displays is like nothing I’ve experienced before. The off-boresight helmet is much more accurate than legacy JHMCS systems and I find it clearer to read (although I still want a wide-angle HUD for flight and fight-critical data!).“

The narrow field of view is the main flaw with almost all augmented reality technology today. Tech giants & optics suppliers are investing billions of dollars in the aim of inventing new optical & display technologies to overcome this, but there’s no clear answer yet.

Collins Aerospace, the contractor for the helmet, lists the field of view on its website as 30°x40°. That’s roughly the same as Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap One.

augmented reality hololens 2 field of view

Theoretically, it’s already possible to get a wider field of view in a helmet form factor. Leap Motion’s helmet-sized Project North Star platform claims a 100 degree field of view. Keep in mind though the F-35’s helmet must be able to operate continuously in almost any environment, including under heavy g-forces and even after the aircraft takes some damage. Technologies deployed in the military also need to go through years of verification.

Still, if a $400,000 helmet can’t achieve a wide field of view, this might suggest the consumer AR glasses we all want are much further out than some of the hype suggests.

Quelle:

F-35 Pilot: The AR Helmet’s Field Of View Is Too Narrow

5. Februar 2021 0 comment