Microvision To Develop Advanced Automotive Displays For European Automaker.(Brief Article)

Microvision, a provider of light scanning technologies, said it has received a predevelopment contract from a European automaker to begin rapid prototyping of driver and passenger information and "infotainment" displays for demonstration and evaluation in test vehicles.

The initial work is expected to take six months and will involve novel head-up display (HUD) projection and driver/passenger information center applications via rear projection display, both using Microvision's proprietary scanning display technology, the company said.

The advanced head-up display systems will enable the driver to view transparent images, eventually in full color, for day/night navigation information, as well as night vision imagery by projecting the images on the windshield, according to Microvision.

Projection displays also will be incorporated into a driver information center that can contain virtually any information relevant to the driver. For passengers, extremely high-resolution rear projection displays will deliver a variety of "infotainment" applications, including video gaming and movies, and eventually, mobile Internet capability, the company said.

According to Tom Sanko, Microvision's vice president of marketing, the project will show that Microvision's scanning display technology may well solve the problem of delivering high information content to drivers and passengers in future automobiles where display size, weight, flexible design configuration, power consumption and visibility are key factors.

"The interest from the automotive industry for our display technology is growing quickly," said Sanko. "Present display technologies have performance and cost limitations that we believe can be overcome with our scanning displays because our display 'engine' can be made very small and very inexpensively and yet still yield extremely bright, high fidelity images."

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