Hyundai Mobis is partnering with the German optical company Zeiss to develop holographic technology that uses a vehicle’s windshield as a transparent HUD (headup display) to show driving information and enable passengers to enjoy infotainment features such as videos and games simultaneously. The partners recently signed a business cooperation agreement to develop holographic HUD at the Mobis Technical Research Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

“Starting with this new technology cooperation utilizing the vehicle’s windshield with Zeiss, we plan to expand our concerted efforts in combining optics and automobiles to various fields such as holographic displays for vehicle interiors and exteriors, and 3D rear lamps,” said Jung Soo-kyung, Executive Vice President and Head of Automotive Electronics Business Unit at Hyundai Mobis.

The South Korean supplier has been releasing a number of technological developments and achievements in automotive displays recently. The company said in 2023 that it was the first in the world to develop a rollable display that moves up and down and rolls according to the vehicle’s driving situation, proposed the use and a swivel display in 2022, and at CES 2024 showcased a transparent display applying hologram optical element technology.

The two companies plan to start mass production as early as 2027 through close technical cooperation. According to forecasts by market research firm Omdia Research, the worldwide holographic HUD market is expected to grow to about 7 million units by 2030, establishing a new trend in the next-generation display field.

Now, the focus of the holographic HUD technology with Zeiss is to display various driving, convenience, and infotainment content in a wide space extending from the driver to the passenger seat. The technology is dramatically evolved from existing headup displays, which only showed relatively simple information such as driving speed, navigation routes, and speed limit warnings, according to Hyundai Mobis.

The transparent display technology enhances safety as the driver can view all information at once without significantly moving their line of sight from the road ahead. Another advantage is that it can completely transform frontal vehicle interior design by eliminating dashboard-mounted displays and providing an unobstructed feeling without interfering with the driver’s and passengers’ field of vision.

Mobis says that Zeiss is a leading technology enterprise operating worldwide in the fields of optics and optoelectronics, and its Microoptics unit is the leading provider of sophisticated micro-optical and holographic-optical solutions for a variety of applications in the automotive, home-tech, and consumer sectors.

The Multifunctional Smart Glass technology they are working on enables large-scale holographic projection systems, highly integrated cameras in transparent media, and holographic lighting applications. They will rely on Zeiss Microoptics, which offers the complete value chain from optical design and mastering to holographic replication systems for series production.

Hyundai Mobis will oversee system development and develop and supply the projector, a key component technology. In the holographic HUD system, the projector is a device that projects content such as videos and images onto a transparent screen using lenses and reflectors. This technology requires miniaturization, noise reduction, heat reduction, and thermal management solutions that are optimized for passenger vehicles.

Zeiss plans to develop and supply a transparent display applied by a unique Zeiss holographic technology based on its precision optics.

A transparent and thin film applying holographic technology is needed to render content on the transparent windshield from the projector’s emitted light. The film creates various patterns using photochemical properties when light enters, creating videos and images. The thickness of the film is less than 100 µm, or about 0.1 mm (0.004 in), barely thicker than human hair.

The two companies have already begun preliminary product development, creating a prototype last month and conducting a demonstration for domestic automaker customers.