Windshield HUD User-Interface
In a conceptual design for this year’s CHI competition, our team targeted an available but yet uncommon technology: windshield-projected head-up-displays. The crux of our design was to present real-time data that would influence driver behavior. The behavior we were interested in was not some occasional task, but rather the constant, and largely unconscious pattern of braking and acceleration which greatly effects fuel economy. So in order to intervene we needed the driver to give frequent, if not constant, awareness to our display.
Safety being a huge concern, we chose to implement our interface on a head-up display, projected onto the windshield. Such displays are always available in the driver’s peripheral vision and thus have been proven to minimize the amount of time a driver takes their eyes away from the road. So far they’ve been utilized commercially in limited application, such as speedometers and fuel guages.
Many questioned our choice to use this technology, with concerns about the feasibility and practicality. We were confident, however, that it was the most appropriate form to deliver the information. And it appears we’re not the only ones betting on the benefits. Microsoft has just recently applied for a patent for an adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles . Read more about it here.
As we say in design, ideas are cheap, its execution that counts. Well seeing your design ideas duplicated by a major company is a nice validation of your thinking ability. I’m just looking forward to the day when I’m able to put some money behind my ideas, and execute ;)
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