Auburn Hills’ Continental, California’s Leia to Create 3-D Display for Car Cockpits

Continental, a technology company in Auburn Hills, has partnered with Leia Inc. in California to develop the Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster, a 3-D cockpit solution for cars. It is slated for series production by 2022.
1111
Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster
Continental has partnered with Leia Inc. to develop the Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster cockpit solution for cars. // Image courtesy of Continental

Continental, a technology company in Auburn Hills, has partnered with Leia Inc. in California to develop the Natural 3D Lightfield Instrument Cluster, a 3-D cockpit solution for cars. It is slated for series production by 2022.

The technology will offer an “as you see it” visibility that will enable better driver depth perception without the need for adapted eyewear. Lightfield displays allow for the perception of depth, highlights, sparkles, and other light effects.

The technology offers information to drivers in real time and is designed to allow drivers to become more comfortable and intuitive when interacting with vehicles.

“One of the automotive industry’s greatest challenges is to develop intelligent concepts for human-machine interaction, to create solutions that enhance the driver experience and allow the driver to simply and effectively interact with the vehicle without becoming distracted from the road,” says Jens Brandt, head of business unit instrumentation and driver HMI at Continental North America. “The new Lightfield display not only brings the third dimension of the highest quality into the vehicle, but the innovative technology also creates a new dimension of comfort and safety. Our solution provides vehicle manufacturers with the ability to enhance the driver experience.”

The companies will also look for opportunities to incorporate features such as video calling, internet browsing, or watching television and movies. The display is specifically designed for in-car visual comfort. It will also offer the opportunity to use internal or external camera systems for video calling or augmented reality functions, a feature that the partnership intends to explore.

“The car is clearly the next frontier for mobile,” says David Fattal, co-founder and CEO of Leia Inc. “To us, it’s a bigger, more immersive version of a smartphone with full 3-D awareness of its environment. The vehicle is a logical place to deploy our growing Lightfield ecosystem of immersive gaming, video streaming, social sharing, and even e-commerce activities.”

The technology does not need a head-tracker camera, adding a cost and practicality advantage. The image is made up of eight perspectives of the same object that vary according to the point of view through blocking or refracting light. The display is designed to remain clear even when sunlight shines on it.

Leia’s Lightfield technology made its commercial debut in the U.S. through smartphone displays with AT&T and Verizon. The experience consists of the display and automotive-use case applications provided by Continental.

Leia offers a toolkit to convert or create content to the Lightfield format, with automatic settings including warnings from the driver assistant system, directions from the navigation system, a parking assistant, and greetings by the vehicle system.

The collaboration will grow Leia’s content platform LeiaLoft to enable car manufacturers and third-party developers to create holographic apps for future vehicles. The Automotive Software Development Kit will give developers access to the car’s interior and exterior environment in full 3-D and enable a host of applications from holographic navigation, park assist, or augmented reality on the digital cluster or central information display.

The collaboration with Leia Inc. was initiated by co-pace, Continental’s startup organization. Through Continental’s Corporate Venture Capital team, the commitment was further cemented with a minority stake investment. Co-pace enables partnerships between startups and Continental.