New head-up display technology for cars planned

Pioneer Corporation and MicroVision Collaborating to Develop Innovative Head-Up Display Product (HUD) basado en láser para el sector automovilístico.

Pioneer Corporation of Japan plans to soon launch its first head-up display (HUD, by its acronym in English, de Head-Up Display) based on innovative projection technology MicroVision. HUDs are virtual data projection systems on the driver's windshield and rearview mirror., and major American automakers also plan to integrate this technology into their vehicles to 2016, According to Lance Evans, MicroVision Business Development Director. The image projector from this Redmond-based company, Washington (EU) It works thanks to semiconductor lasers and a microscopic mirror.

This company's HUD is already installed in some vehicle prototypes, but until now it was too expensive for commercial models, according to Evans. Now that the prices of green lasers have dropped, which represented an important part of the final price of the screen, The technology may be competitive with traditional screens.

Most HUDs that exist generate images using LCD. The diodes emit light and a series of liquid crystal displays that function as blinds, Do they make it reach each pixel or not?, as needed. This method requires a lot of energy and sometimes the images are not bright enough to be seen in broad daylight.. New displays use liquid crystal devices or hundreds of tiny mirrors to reflect light onto each pixel.. And although this type of screen uses less energy, still not too bright.

Laser technology

The MicroVision system uses three lasers - one red, one green and one blue- and a single silicon mirror one millimeter in diameter that tilts on two axes. The laser emits light at different intensities and the three colors are combined to produce the final color of the pixel. Lasers emit light onto the mirror, that moves rapidly horizontally and vertically, painting the image on the windshield pixel by pixel. This happens so fast that the image appears static. Evans has assured that the pure and saturated colors of the lasers result in sharper images with greater contrast, so they are visible even in broad daylight. Illuminating pixel by pixel also saves energy. And using a single mirror instead of a series of them makes the device smaller, simple and cheap.

The final cost of MicroVision's product depends mainly on the price of advanced green lasers. It has traditionally been difficult to manufacture true green lasers, so most of them contain semiconductors that emit infrared light that is converted to green by a complicated optical system. However, in recent years, a half dozen key producers like Nichia,Osram Opto Semiconductors, the England, have developed cheaper pure green lasers. Little by little they are starting their large-scale manufacturing, which will reduce prices even further. Evans expects the cost to be a tenth of what it is by the end of this year..