The automotive technology landscape is continuously evolving, yet the average age of vehicles on the road is increasing. This gap creates a demand for aftermarket solutions that bring modern features to older cars. Heads-Up Displays (HUDs), once a luxury feature, are becoming increasingly desirable for enhanced driving safety and convenience. Among the various aftermarket HUD options, Kivic Hud Obd2 stands out, promising seamless integration and valuable driving information. But how does it, and other aftermarket HUDs, truly measure up? This article delves into the world of aftermarket HUDs, exploring their technologies, challenges, and the pivotal role of OBD2 connectivity, with a focus on devices like Kivic HUD.
Understanding HUD Requirements for Optimal Visibility and Safety
For any HUD, especially aftermarket options, to be effective, it must prioritize driver safety and visibility under all driving conditions. This means avoiding any obstruction of the driver’s view and ensuring the projected information is clearly visible without causing distraction or eye strain. Several critical factors contribute to a HUD’s success, including transparency, focus, and brightness.
Essential HUD Features: Transparency, Focus, and Brightness
A primary concern is that a HUD should not impede the driver’s vision of the road. The combiner, which reflects the display image, can inadvertently block a significant portion of incoming light. Some aftermarket HUDs, in their attempt to enhance display visibility, compromise transparency, blocking upwards of 50% of light, which can be detrimental, particularly in low-light conditions.
HUDs are designed to project images at a focal distance that aligns with the driver’s view of the road. This minimizes the need for the driver to refocus between the road and the display, reducing eye strain and reaction time. Most aftermarket HUDs achieve this using a curved semi-mirror combiner. However, some, like earlier Hudway models, do not alter the focus, potentially diminishing the intended benefit of a HUD.
Image visibility is paramount, and this is where brightness becomes crucial. A HUD image must be discernible against the bright background of the real world, which can include sunlit roads emitting over 10,000 nits of luminance. Standard smartphone screens, with brightness levels around 500-700 nits, are woefully inadequate for HUD applications. Automotive-grade HUDs typically require displays capable of outputting over 15,000 nits to the eye to ensure visibility in bright sunlight. This necessitates display technologies significantly brighter than those found in typical consumer electronics.
The Importance of See-Through Design
The fundamental concept of a HUD is to overlay critical information onto the driver’s line of sight without obstructing their view. However, some aftermarket HUDs prioritize display brightness at the expense of transparency. By excessively tinting the combiner to enhance image contrast, they can severely reduce visibility, especially at night. A truly effective HUD maintains a balance, ensuring the display is visible in daylight while remaining transparent enough for safe nighttime driving. The question arises: at what point does a “see-through” display become more of a hindrance than a help? Blocking more than 20-30% of light starts to become noticeable, and beyond 50%, it’s akin to driving with sunglasses at night.
Focus and Image Projection in HUDs
To minimize eye strain and maintain focus on the road, HUDs optically collimate the projected image, making it appear to be focused at a distance. This is typically achieved using a spherically curved combiner, which not only magnifies the display image but also adjusts its focal point, creating the illusion that the information is floating in front of the vehicle. The degree of magnification and focus shift is determined by the combiner’s curvature, the distance between the combiner and the image source, and the distance to the driver’s eye.
Brightness and Sunlight Management: A Critical Challenge
One of the most significant engineering challenges for aftermarket HUDs is managing sunlight. Unlike built-in HUDs, which are shielded within the dashboard, aftermarket devices are exposed to direct sunlight, which can wash out the display image. Automakers integrate “light traps” and sun-blocking mechanisms to mitigate this issue. However, many aftermarket HUDs lack such sophisticated sunlight management systems. Early designs like Navdy employed high-gain screens oriented to deflect sunlight away from the combiner while directing display light towards it. The absence of effective sunlight rejection in many aftermarket HUDs can severely limit their usability in bright conditions.
Nighttime Visibility and Dimming
While daytime brightness is crucial, nighttime usability is equally important. At night, ambient light levels are significantly lower, and the human eye becomes more sensitive. A HUD that is too bright at night can be distracting and even dangerous. Ideally, a HUD should have a dimming ratio of at least 300:1, transitioning from over 15,000 nits for daytime to less than 50 nits for nighttime use. Achieving this wide dynamic range in brightness control is a significant technical hurdle.
Exploring Aftermarket HUD Technologies and Designs
The aftermarket HUD market has seen a variety of approaches, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Examining different technologies and models provides valuable insights into the current state of aftermarket HUDs and the challenges they face.
Lumens Micro-LED HUD: A Bright Future?
Lumens, a Korean company, presented a technically compelling approach using Micro-LED microdisplays in their HUD prototypes. These prototypes utilized three separate microdisplays for red, green, and blue light, which were then optically combined to produce a full-color image. Lumens claimed an impressive output of 100,000 nits from these combined panels, exceeding 150 times the brightness of a typical smartphone. This level of brightness is essential for overcoming sunlight washout and achieving visibility with a highly transparent combiner.
One Lumens prototype projected the Micro-LED image onto a screen, which was then magnified and refocused by a spherical combiner. A more compact and intriguing design directly projected the Micro-LED output onto the combiner, eliminating the projection lens and screen. While Micro-LED technology holds great promise for HUD applications due to its potential for high brightness and efficiency, its cost and maturity at the time made it more of a future-looking technology rather than a readily available aftermarket solution.
Hudly Wireless: Simplicity and Smartphone Integration
Hudly Wireless took a different approach, opting for a simpler and more readily available technology: a high-brightness LCD panel. This HUD wirelessly mirrors a smartphone display, leveraging the phone’s processing power and software. Hudly promoted “full wireless mirroring,” enabling compatibility with popular navigation apps like Waze and Google Maps. This strategy of utilizing the smartphone as the primary computing and data source is a significant departure from earlier, more self-contained aftermarket HUD designs.
The Hudly Wireless employs a flat combiner and a backlit LCD. While this design allows for a slimmer form factor and easier dashboard mounting, it exposes the LCD directly to sunlight, potentially leading to glare and reduced visibility. The specified brightness of 2,500 cd/m², later claimed to be 5,000-6,000 cd/m², while significantly brighter than a phone screen, is still likely insufficient for optimal daytime HUD visibility, especially considering the light loss through the combiner. Concerns were also raised about the operating temperature range of the LCD and the lack of true optical collimation for focus adjustment, despite marketing claims to the contrary.
Hudway Cast (Carrobot C2 Lite): Leveraging Smartphone Apps
Hudway Cast, also known as Carrobot C2 Lite, represents a further evolution in aftermarket HUD design, focusing on smartphone integration and cost reduction. This model strips away redundant hardware found in smartphones, such as GPS and sensors, relying entirely on the connected phone for data and processing. This approach mirrors the philosophy of Hudly Wireless, aiming to leverage the capabilities of existing smartphones and popular navigation applications.
Hudway’s product lineage reveals a shift in aftermarket HUD strategy. They began with the basic and arguably ineffective Hudway Glass, a simple reflector for smartphone screens. They then moved to rebrand Carrobot products, starting with the Carrobot C1, which attempted to mimic the features of Navdy, and later the Carrobot C2/Drive, utilizing a brighter LCD display. The Hudway Cast/Carrobot C2 Lite represents a move towards simpler, phone-dependent HUDs, recognizing the cost and complexity of replicating smartphone functionalities within the HUD itself. However, a key challenge with these phone-centric HUDs is the lack of HUD-optimized software. Popular navigation apps are not designed with transparent backgrounds or HUD-specific display elements, potentially compromising the see-through nature and readability of the HUD image.
Kivic HUD OBD2: Design and Features
Kivic HUD OBD2 adopts a design similar to the Carrobot C2, utilizing an LCD panel with LED backlighting. Kivic specifies a “17,000 Nits Direct Backlit BLU” brightness for their backlight unit. However, as discussed earlier, the actual brightness reaching the driver’s eye is significantly reduced due to losses in the LCD panel and combiner. Estimations suggest that the brightness reaching the eye from Kivic HUD might be closer to 510 nits, comparable to a smartphone screen, which is likely insufficient for bright sunlight conditions.
A significant feature of Kivic HUD is its OBD2 connectivity. OBD2 (On-Board Diagnostics II) is a standardized system in most modern vehicles that provides access to a wealth of real-time data from the car’s engine and sensors. By connecting to the OBD2 port, Kivic HUD can display crucial driving information directly from the vehicle’s computer, such as speed, RPM, coolant temperature, fuel consumption, and more. This direct data integration eliminates the need for relying solely on smartphone apps for information, offering potentially more accurate and responsive data display related to vehicle performance. While the brightness might be a limitation in direct sunlight, the OBD2 data integration provides a valuable feature set for drivers interested in vehicle performance monitoring and data-driven driving.
WayRay Navion: Ambitious but Impractical?
WayRay Navion represented a more radical and ambitious approach to aftermarket HUDs. It employed a holographic film combiner and a large refractive lens system. WayRay emphasized its holographic film technology, but its optical advantages in this application remain unclear. Concerns were raised about potential sunlight diffraction and stray light issues with the holographic film, which could impair visibility in certain lighting conditions.
The sheer size of the WayRay Navion was also a significant drawback for an aftermarket device. Its large base could obstruct the driver’s view in many vehicles, and the extensive combiner would likely be legally problematic and pose safety concerns. WayRay aimed to integrate a comprehensive feature set, including driver assistance and augmented reality (AR) capabilities, but the complexity and potential cost made it seem impractical as an aftermarket solution. The fundamental HUD performance and the challenges posed by its design and technology raised doubts about its viability and market appeal.
Key Considerations When Choosing an Aftermarket HUD
Selecting the right aftermarket HUD involves carefully considering several factors to ensure it meets your needs and enhances your driving experience without compromising safety.
Display Brightness and Clarity
Brightness is paramount for daytime visibility. Look for HUDs with specifications that suggest sufficient brightness to overcome sunlight washout. Real-world reviews and comparisons can provide valuable insights into actual visibility performance in different lighting conditions. Clarity is also crucial; the display should be sharp and easily readable, even with simple graphics.
Transparency and Visibility (Day & Night)
A good HUD should be transparent enough to maintain a clear view of the road, especially at night. Avoid HUDs that excessively tint the combiner in pursuit of brightness, as this can compromise nighttime visibility. Ideally, the HUD should dynamically adjust its brightness based on ambient light conditions to ensure optimal visibility both day and night.
Ease of Installation and Fitment
Aftermarket HUDs should be relatively easy to install without requiring permanent modifications to your vehicle. Consider the mounting method and ensure it is compatible with your dashboard and driving position. Fitment is crucial; a bulky or poorly positioned HUD can obstruct your view or be distracting.
Software and Connectivity (OBD2 Data, Smartphone Integration)
The software and connectivity features determine the functionality of the HUD. If you desire real-time vehicle data, consider OBD2-compatible HUDs like Kivic HUD OBD2. If smartphone integration and navigation app mirroring are important, explore options like Hudly Wireless and Hudway Cast. Evaluate the user interface and the availability of HUD-optimized apps or display modes. For OBD2 devices, ensure compatibility with your vehicle’s make and model.
Conclusion
Aftermarket Heads-Up Displays offer a compelling way to modernize older vehicles and enhance driving safety and information access. While challenges remain in achieving optimal brightness, transparency, and sunlight management, innovations in display technology and smartphone integration are driving progress in this market. Devices like Kivic HUD OBD2, with their OBD2 connectivity and focus on vehicle data, represent a valuable option for drivers seeking performance information and a more integrated driving experience. As technology advances, aftermarket HUDs are poised to become increasingly sophisticated and seamlessly integrated into the driving environment, bridging the technology gap in vehicles of all ages.
