Rethinking the HUD

New tech solutions move toward augmented reality to bring greater capability to head-up displays.

Head-up displays (HUD) debuted in the late 1950s as a means of providing jet fighter pilots critical information while maintaining situational awareness outside the cockpit. Today these systems for projecting data onto the windscreens of cars and trucks are becoming a vital conduit of information to drivers.

The first production automotive HUD appeared in the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Indianapolis 500 Pace Car Convertible. That early GM system employed a vacuum fluorescent display tube and mirror to project a virtual speedometer in the pale green hue that would become familiar to drivers of cars so equipped.