Car makers drive 3D display project

13 Jun 2008

A project that is aiming to develop an interactive 3D display for the automotive industry has kicked off this month.

Expanding to new markets

Renault has teamed up with European simulation specialists Holografika and Oktal in a project that is aiming to put 3D holographic screens in cars. The project is called Ariva and its futuristic-sounding goal is to create an "augmented reality for vehicle architecture and virtual assessment applications".

"Holografika will develop a high-quality 3D display, which will be used for different applications in the automotive industry," Demeter Akos, sales engineer at Holografika, Hungary, told optics.org. "The display can be used as a driving simulation tool for safety training and for interior design reviews."

Ariva was launched on the back of the success of the EU-funded Coherent project, which ended last year. The Coherent project delivered a 3D screen, called HoloVizio, which allowed designers to visualize 3D models of cars, engines or components. Networking technologies were also developed, which allowed work to be shared and viewed by team members in different locations.

"The aim of the Coherent project was to create a new networked holographic audio-visual platform to support real-time collaborative 3D interaction between geographically distributed teams," explained Demeter.

The Coherent display used innovative holographic techniques to create realistic 3D images that could be viewed by a number of freely moving people simultaneously. Crucially, the viewers did not need to wear goggles and the 3D image was maintained as they moved with respect to the screen.

Now, the Ariva project aims to improve on this technology and expand its application to new markets. "Holografika would like to exploit the results of the Coherent project through our potential customers," explained Demeter. "We would also like to find other market segments where HoloVizio 3D display costs could be justified."

According to Demeter, one of the key problems associated with HoloVizio technology is the high number of projection units that are required to form the 3D images. "HoloVizio creates a dense lightfield using many projection units," he said. "This increases the cost of the display, but should be overcome as the cost of components decreases."