BMW Head-Up Display was developed for fighter jet precision

BMW, unsatisfied with packing just a space shuttle’s worth of electronics into their cars, now includes a heads up display (HUD) rivaling that of a fighter jet. BMW now asserts that due to the information projected onto the windshield, drivers now spend 50% less time assimilating information offered up by the HUD.

Part of this is due to the fact that the display is color (not the night vision camera though), and part of it is due to a thin foil inserted into the windshield to properly direct the reflection from the projector.

The HUD is also designed so that only the driver sees the information at eye level. This is supposed to reduce strain on the eyes in a couple ways: less time spent switching between close up vision and far away, plus the HUD changes brightness according to outside light so that it is not poking the driver in the eye or making the driver squint.

Eurofighter test pilot Robert Hierl said this of HUD: “Our monochrome head-up display technology is unable to offer such a brilliant display quality [compared to the BMW HUD].” The system is offered in nearly every series of BMW car.

– By: Sawyer Sutton