Using Augmented Reality for Full-Windshield Displays and Crash Avoidance

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Each year approximately 30,000 people are killed in the U.S. in motor vehicle crashes. Often crashes occur because the driver cannot see the hazard in time, especially when the hazard is obscured (a braking vehicle in front of the lead vehicle, a crossing vehicle running a red light, etc.). Currently such technology is quite expensive, which has led to lower levels of adoption. Indeed, the field of augmented reality for cars is looking for an 'application' that will have broad basis of appeal and deep impact. Crash avoidance could be such an application that gets more users interested in adopting this hardware, which then provides the basis for other applications to be developed and adopted.Research is being conducted to determine how Augmented Reality (AR), implemented as a large field of view head-up display, can be used to present warnings. Concepts include arrows showing where drivers should look and graphics to highlight at what drivers should look. Implementation requires a full-windshield Head-Up-Display (HUD) to show the graphics, communications technology to connect vehicles, and validated user interface concepts. These elements are to be combined in a product, one that could substantially reduce motor vehicle crashes. The team has developed and tested a proof-of-concept prototype of the augmented reality interface in a driving simulator. That interface consists of some means to highlight a hazard, such as an underline or a surrounding box. However, when the hazard in not in front of the driver or not visible, an arrow appears in front of them directing them where to look, either to the left or right.