Three team for holographic HUD production
Eastman, Ceres Holographics and Covestro have signed a deal for commercial production of holographic head up display (HUD) technology.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will explore commercial production of the Holographic In-Plane Transparent Display (HIPTD) laminated solution for automotive and transportation glazing applications that they have jointly developed.
The new displays overcome the performance, size and geometric limitations of traditional HUD systems, enabling the practical and scalable implementation of multiple displays in one windshield and elsewhere in side-light glazing. Proof of concepts (PoCs) developed with OEMs will be shown at CES 2025 in Las Vegas in January with a fully functional transparent display windshield demonstrator.
The agreement builds on years of collaboration to use each company’s technologies to manufacture holographic-enabled transparent HUDs for the automotive market.
Covestro in Germany produces the films for the roll to roll system developed by Ceres Holographic in Scotland with encapsulation and interlayer materials from Eastman in the US.
- First integrated holographic HUD
- Multiple holograms form windshield HUD
- Ceres Holographic teams for roll-to-roll film production
The deal enables the companies to look into the steps needed to setup and establish the required facilities and manufacturing capacity for the automotive supply chain to meet the planned production timelines of OEMs, tapping into the existing Eastman relationships with automotive OEMs and Tier One suppliers including Ford.
Earlier this year Ceres and Eastman demonstrated the latest holographic transparent display HUDs to OEMs in Europe, the USA, and China. These HUDs featured multiple transparent displays within a single, fully laminated windshield, each measuring up to 400mm by 300mm. Custom-designed holographic optical elements (HOEs) were incorporated into a single sheet of Bayfol HX film, laminated with Eastman’s new developed interlayer stack, achieving the industry’s largest field of view.
This used Covestro’s expertise in photopolymer films, Ceres digital mastering and HoloFlekt roll-to-roll replication system, which produces finished films up to 1400mm wide, and Eastman’s encapsulation of functional films into automotive approved laminates.
“This agreement solidifies our collaboration and moves us closer to delivering a full-stack solution for innovative display implementations,” said Hemant Dandekar, Eastman’s global commercial director of automotive for advanced materials, interlayers. “With the building blocks and relationships in place, we’re excited to define a path to viable holographic transparent displays globally.”
“Our Bayfol HX enables truly transparent projection displays that meet automotive safety requirements for windshields,” said Günther Walze, Head of Holographic Lightguiding at Covestro. “With the necessary establishment of hologram mastering and scalable mass-production replication equipment by Ceres, combined with Eastman’s windshield lamination technology, this innovation is ready for deployment to end customers.”
“We have been working closely with global OEMs for years and are now at a tipping point for adoption and scaling of this display technology,” said Andy Travers, CEO of Ceres Holographics. “This is being driven by a combination of a desire for more safety-oriented and intuitive information display features, pressure from safety regulators to reduce driver distractions, and the accelerated pace of innovation and associated need for differentiation among a new generation of car makers.”
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
