3D holographic dashboard can improve passenger safety

A team of researchers has developed the first LiDAR-based augmented reality head-up display for use in vehicles.

Tests on a prototype version of the "holographic dashboard" suggest that this technology could improve road safety by "seeing through" objects to warn of potential hazards without distracting the driver.

Head held high, the dashboard at eye level

The technology, developed by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College London (UCL), is based on LiDAR (light sensing and range). Use LiDAR data to create holographic representations of the very high definition road. All objects that, unlike most head-up displays, are transmitted directly to the driver's eyes.

The first tests are based on data collected from a busy street in central London, and showed that holographic images appear in the driver's field of vision based on their real position, creating a true augmented reality.

How the holographic dashboard works

"Head-up displays are incorporated into connected vehicles. They usually project information such as speed or fuel levels directly from the dashboard onto the windshield in front of the driver, to keep their eyes on the road," says lead author. Jana Skirnewsskaya, PhD candidate of the Cambridge Department of Engineering. "However, we wanted to go one step further by representing real objects in panoramic 3D projections."

The results are reported in Optics Express magazine.

research in detail

Using LiDAR, the researchers scanned Malet Street, a busy street on the UCL campus in central London.

The co-author Phil Wilkes, a geographer who normally uses LiDAR to scan tropical forests, scanned the entire road using a technique called terrestrial laser scanning. Millions of pulses were sent from multiple locations along Malet Street. The LiDAR data then made it possible to create a 3D model to be transmitted to the "holographic dashboard".

"This way, we can combine the scans, building an entire scene, which captures not just trees, but cars, trucks, people, signs and everything else you'd see on a typical city street," Wilkes says.

Although the data we acquired came from a fixed platform, it is similar to the sensors that will be in the next generation of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles.

Phil Wilkes

Image based on LiDAR data (left), converted to a hologram (right).

The next steps

In the future, the researchers hope to refine their system by customizing the holographic dashboard layout.

For now they have created an algorithm capable of projecting several layers of different objects: these layered holograms can be freely arranged in the driver's visual space. For example, in the first layer, a road sign at a further distance can be projected with a smaller dimension. In the second level, a warning sign at a closer range can be displayed in a larger size.

A super holographic view

In other words, the holographic dashboard is able to build a scenario similar to the real one, but with the addition of the possibility of seeing also objects that in reality would be hidden. A "super holographic view".

"This layering technique provides an augmented reality experience and alerts the driver in a natural way," says Skirnewskaya. “Each individual may have different preferences for their viewing options. For example, the vital signs on the driver's health (agitation, risk of falling asleep, etc.) could be projected in a desired position on the head-up display. "

Researchers are now working to miniaturize the optical components used in their holographic configuration so that they can fit into a car.

Once setup is complete, holographic dashboard tests will be performed directly in vehicles on Cambridge's public roads.

A science fiction future (how many times have we seen vehicles that looked like spaceships in the cockpit?) Has just begun.