DMD will be used for the first time on a head-up display and will replace the TFT (thin film transistor) technology used to date. Using mirror optics and a picture generating unit (PGU), graphical elements are generated in the same way as digital cinema projectors. Due to an intermediate screen, sequential colour management and a lens-based optical path, the image is expected to be brighter and sharper than with conventional head-up displays, allowing the display to be seen clearly even with polarised sunglasses.
"Our solution closes the gap between the classic head-up display and augmented reality head-up displays and provides a better image with a larger display area", says Dr. Frank Rabe, head of the Instrumentation & Driver HMI business unit at Continental. The larger display area enables more information to be shown, and hence allows redundancy between the head-up display and cluster to be reduced in Lincoln models.
The new head-up display was first integrated into the Lincoln Continental this year and will also be available in the Lincoln Navigator from 2018. DMD technology underpins augmented reality head-up displays at Continental.