3D car dashboard displays to hit the road

3D car dashboard displays to hit the road
Technology manufacturer, Continental, has developed a 3D dashboard display which uses ‘autostereoscopic’ 3D technology to provide an accurate display based on a driver’s line of sight.

The display, which is now in production, displays 3D content without the need for purpose-built glasses, using ‘autostereoscopic’ 3D technology and an interior camera to detect the driver’s line of sight and adjust the displayed content accordingly. 

The interior camera also employs attention detection to prevent drivers from looking at the 3D screen for too long, identifying moments of driver distraction or fatigue. 

Dr Frank Rabe, head of the human machine interface business unit, Continental, said: “With our volume-production display featuring autostereoscopic 3D technology, we are raising human-machine interaction to a whole new level and laying the foundations for intuitive communication in the connected cockpit of tomorrow.”

“To ensure that this gain in safety and comfort does not come at the expense of a lean electronics architecture, we integrated various displays in the centre console or dashboard into our Cross Domain Hub.”

The displays will be installed in Genesis GV80 SUV’s, displaying three-dimensional scales, pointers and objects such as a stop sign warning the driver’s line of sight. 
Parallax barriers, a form of slanted slats, are used to divide the image for the user, with two different, offset views that reach the right and left eye to create a three-dimensional image.

Continental is also working on developing a 3D display for passenger and rear seat occupants, based on 3D Lightfield technology from Leia to eliminate the need for cameras to detect head movement or 3D glasses. 

The system will use Diffractive Lightfield Backlighting instead of parallax barriers, with the updated system planned for production by 2022.