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How can digital holograms keep us safe on the road ?

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When bright minds from three UK-based universities put their heads together they came up with LiDAR-derived Augmented Reality HUD, a technology that could take road safety to the next level.

It is not uncommon for trees or large vehicles to obstruct the view of things like road signs or traffic lights. To overcome the drawback of most HUDs that beam a 2D image onto a small section of the windshield, the researchers built on LiDAR to obtain an ultra-high-definition larger scale panoramic 3D view of the road with all its obstacles. This new technology could prove extremely useful as it can “see through” obstacles and alert drivers to potential hazards without having them divert their eyes from the road.

Combining LiDAR (a remote sensing method that sends out laser pulses to gauge the distance between an object and the scanner) with cloud data, in their research, the team collected data of a busy street and converted it into a 3D scene, exposing all the objects and obstacles on that street. Prototypes reveal that the holographic image will be in the driver’s line of sight, thus creating an actual augmented reality.

The projections are “real-life” in the sense that a driver will see objects relative to where they actually are. The technology is yet to be tested in real life, but the researchers hope to further enhance it to include dynamic objects such as pedestrians.

AGC too keeps building on its experience in the LiDAR field. As we move toward a new mobility area, the need for LiDAR systems increases. Wideye by AGC offers glazing solutions for sensor integration. Find out more here: https://wideye.vision/