[tshile]

Using a HUD to read/write texts/tweets? It seems like the creators missed all the studies about the dangers of distracted driving.

And pilots use HUD's so this must be safe? That would potentially hold water, if the pilots were using huds to tweet, text, and select music while landing... instead they're using huds to display important information...

I like the technology, I just don't like the suggested use cases for it...

[drbawb]

Precisely. I've long wanted to build a HUD that could project on all the glass surfaces of my car. If I were building a HUD, it should be giving me a "heads up."

The windshield would have navigational aids, but any surface in the car could be used to display hazards!

I want my car to identify if a pedestrian is present (highlighted in yellow) or if they appear to be crossing my heading (highlighted in red.)

I want my car to tell me if there is cross-traffic that is about to run a red light. I'd like to see speed and distance indicators for other vehicles on the road.

I'd love to see the speed of traffic I'm merging into. When I glance over my shoulder to check traffic I can see: !! 64MPH | 72MPH !! in yellow, indicating I should merge faster if I'm able.

If my car detects emergency vehicles or construction vehicles the HUD could draw attention to it in my windows or mirrors.

---

Perhaps my HUD could identify vehicles occupied by "Tweeters" so I can be sure to avoid them?

We're making self-driving cars... there are countless ways to apply that same technology to human-driven cars that would make the roads safer for everyone. If the best they can come up with is song selection and social media: I think their priorities are a bit misaligned.

[antocv]

But I already have all that information. And I dont have any HUD or other displays anywhere.

I can see the speed of traffic Im merging into, pedestrians, change of speed/flow of traffic ahead of me, and if a pedestrian appears to be willing to cross infront of me.

Without even having to think about it, I can just notice when there is emergency vehicles around or construction vehicles or any other danger-sign on the road. I can be talking to my passangers, listening to music or day-dreaming but would not miss any signs - its in the automated system already.

For me, having those kind of HUD stuff would just be even more redundant information to learn to automatically filter out/make judgements on.

In fact, I think such a heads-up-displays everywhere with color information, would just confuse drivers more and lead to more accidents - now you not only have to keep eyes on the road/let brain handle the information and do its thing - but also interpret and learn the various displays and what they mean, but also to confirm what they display to the sorrounding. More info to process - more error prone decisions.

[alandarev]

Where are you residing? I am sure the rest of the world could learn from crash-free place you live in.

In my 18's I though the same, why all those precautions? I can write SMS and not kill anyone! Truth is, I was lucky not to run into emergency situation while being distracted by mobile.

There is very little risk in regular circumstances, but when unlikely events overlap bad things happen. Blown tire on a motorway, cyclist falling to the middle of a road, uncontrolled vehicle approaching you, and other infinitely many rare possibilities.

P.S. highlighting pedestrians might be life-saving during minimal vision weather.

[hoektoe]

I would like the following from a HUD:

Outline a car that a standing still or rapidly decreasing speed. This would reduce mundane traffic accidents due to perception errors.

Show road lanes, especially in poor visibility.

Help nightblind users to drive at night

[antocv]

Im residing in one of the best places for traffic safety after decades of work towards "0 traffic deaths per year goal".

I dont fiddle with my phone when in the car - there is a holder for it on the dashboard so I can see and hear it clearly when GPS/GoogleMaps is on.

Running into an emergency situation and having different color lights or other information on any windshield would be disaster.

Ive been in emergency situations many times, in other countries and one which I believe has the most unsafe roads in the world. Escaped many though situations.

And Ive also hardly survived a frontal crash with another car (in the safe country), I was going 70km/h and other one was equal or faster. I wouldnt recommend adding more information than already present for a human brain to take decisions on. That information can be fed to a computer to take decisions when cars become self-driving.

But yeah HUD is cool. I would use it to show the speedometer higher up than it is right now.

[nnnnni]

You must have a magical car that has absolutely no blind spots! Which one is it? I'd like to consider purchasing one as my next car.

My current car will give warnings if it sees cross traffic approaching when in reverse. It has warned me a few times when someone is driving way too quickly through a parking lot and my view has been blocked by parked cars.

Things like this are REALLY useful. You just don't realize how useful they are because you haven't used the technology yet.

[drbawb]

Out of curiosity what car is that? I've seen a lot of blind spot/collision avoidance stuff but I don't think I've seen any sort of "cross traffic" detection yet.

Just the other day my friend drove past someone who was actively backing out a big SUV.

As we drive past our car is well below the level of the SUVs rear window. I just thought to myself: "he's incredibly lucky the SUV even saw him."

[ajford]

I have a 2010 Chrysler Town and Country that has such a feature. It's an extension of the "blind-spot" feature that is only active during reverse. It's saved me a couple of times in crowded parking lots with impatient and fast drivers.

[nnnnni]

In this case, it was a Ford Escape. It has proximity sensors all around -- it'll also tell you when someone is in your blind spot in a neighboring lane.

[Shivetya]

I am all for HUDs, if not most instrumentation, simply telling me what is wrong. When driving all I really want to know is, my speed and the speed limit. I could care less about the rest.

Yet I am a still a gear head at heart and having the option to see engine temperature, oil pressure (provided its a real reading), fuel, and such, would be nice I do not need it in my field of view. Perhaps the items I want to really know can be designated to pop up when I stop.

So, nav dream state.

default, speed and limit. Navigation if I am following a route Ability to designate selected other values to display all the time, at stop, when near threshold.

optional voice

[TeMPOraL]

I don't get why you got downvoted.

I agree with your opinion. More data, even if relevant and not tweets, doesn't always mean better. The purpose of displayed information should be to augment decision making. If something is irrelevant to making a call, like engine temperature being in proper range, it should be out of sight because otherwise it's a (mild) distraction.

[gchokov]

Sygic drive's HUD option has exactly this. Works like a charm during the night.

[simonebrunozzi]

Good suggestions, drbawb.

[CamperBob2]

The very first image at the top of the page just sends chills down my spine. "Check out this rad video!" while I'm about to drive past a row of parked cars in a busy urban area.

How about "No?" Is "No" supported?

[drbawb]

To be honest this is sort of how I felt when I got my first iPhone.

I was downtown in a very busy urban center that I absolutely hate navigating. I was so happy to have an iPhone that was aiding me through the maze of one-way streets; for once I wouldn't be late for my rendezvous.

Just then: the person I was picking up decided to call me. iOS decided that a phone call was more important than driving, so it displayed a full screen alert which closed my navigation session. As a result I of course missed the turn and ended up in a rather stressful situation.

Now this was before iOS had built in turn-by-turn navigation; so I don't think it's fair to say that Apple intended it to be used as a replacement for a navigation aid; but the incident still sends chills down my spine.

---

The iPhone is no longer with me: but that was the point where I decided two things. (1) my iPhone would always be jailbroken. (2) The "CallBar" app in the Cydia store was well worth the pocket change I paid for it.

---

I can't stand the notion that social interaction is somehow more important than driving.

When you're driving: your utmost attention is the one and only social obligation you should be expected to fulfill.

[GBond]

Sooo... you're upset your phone behaves like a phone?

[lsc]

For most of us, I think it's primarily a pocket computer. If you really just want a phone, you are massively overpaying if you get an iphone. I mean, sure, it has phone functionality as well, and that's handy, but just because we still call it a phone, don't think that most of us use smartphones primarily for audio communication.

[drbawb]

Upset that a smartphone behaves like a single-purpose landline? Certainly. I believe a fullscreen dialer is terrible UX.

Smartphones are very rarely marketed _as phones._ They are marketed based on differentiating features: everyone knows that the flagship Androids and the iPhone are plenty good at making calls.

This leads you to sell the device based on it's lifestyle features: like Siri, or Google Now. Often they are touted for their entertainment capabilities, or marketed as portable media players.

These devices are sold as though _they're more than a phone._ So I don't think it's entirely unrealistic to expect the dialer to be designed to cooperate with other apps.

---

My phone has more CPU cores, more RAM, and more storage than many netbooks. So I find it a bit strange that Skype on my netbook doesn't demand my full attention, but Skype on my phone not only demands it, _ but commands it._

[marcosdumay]

I'm too. I'm upset that my phone behaves as a phone when I'm driving, and late at night. It doesn't need to (and it can ask me the important numbers that can call me at night).

[mikeash]

Why is that so absurd? The only reason these things are called "phones" anymore is tradition and inertia. The "phone" app on my "phone" is one of the least frequently used.

[JacksonGariety]

Nope. He appears to be sort of upset that iPhones exist at all.

[danielweber]

They put a fair bit of money into their homepage. I'm wondering why they decided that the first use case would be video sharing. Holy cow.

The nav system is great. They should have led with that.

[mikeash]

Additionally, pilots rarely need second-by-second reactions. There are times when you do, and you want to maintain awareness, but the odds of crashing because you took 15 seconds to look at a map are extremely low. The odds of crashing because you're focusing on details and forget to keep track of where you are or how much fuel you have or other long-term items are much higher. The requirements for awareness in a car are completely different, where a brief lapse in attention can easily get you killed, but the long-term picture is rarely critical.

[Sami_Lehtinen]

Well, taking changes is not the point. There are two pilots, at least one of them should be looking out all the time, doing scanning. It's unfortunate when two airliners collide, because nobody was watching where they're flying. It has been happening. Even in situations when both planes have been already warned about the precense of other planes.

Problem with planes is really high speed, so the plane can be just a pinhead, even if there's good visibility and in the following 15 seconds you're doing something else, is enough to collide.

[mikeash]

A lot of airplanes only have one pilot.

It comes down to probabilities. While driving, stare at a map for 15 seconds. What are the odds that you crash? Probably quite high. Better than 50/50, I'd say. Now, when flying, stare at a map for 15 seconds. What are the odds that you crash? It's not zero, but it's close.

[servowire]

This should be banned. Really. I don't want this on the same road as my loved ones. When you are driving, you are driving. Not reading/tweeting.

Even more, mounting "something" to the front window is illegal in a lot of places in the world [1]. At least Netherlands and U.S. In The Netherlands operating a phone while driving (voice operated carkit exempt) gives you a ~$250 fine.

Furthermore, obstructing part of your window is dangerous. You could miss something. And it's distracting (our eyes focus on motion).

What a idiotic idea.

[1]http://www.poi-factory.com/node/34521

[codfrantic]

>In The Netherlands operating a phone while driving (voice operated carkit exempt) gives you a ~$250 fine.

Sadly you're wrong. Holding a phone is illegal, operating it while in a car kit is officially nog prohibited.

>Artikel 61a

Het is degene die een motorvoertuig, bromfiets, snorfiets of gehandicaptenvoertuig dat is uitgerust met een motor bestuurt verboden tijdens het rijden een mobiele telefoon vast te houden.

[zak_mc_kracken]

Actually, it's not only legal in California, the state recently banned devices that get stuck to the windshield and mandates that such devices need to be placed and secured on the dashboard.

Obviously, the law doesn't say anything about HUDs, and it will probably take a few years for legislation to catch up with technology in that area.

[michaelmior]

There is nothing mounted to the window. The device sits on the dashboard.

[yitchelle]

I totally agree with your comments. Before Navdy, the stuff that distracts you are out of your focus. With Navdy, it bring the distractions right in your view, making it easier and faster to be distracted.

[ghkbrew]

To be fair, they do claim you can disable alerts on a per-application basis. Plus, given that many drivers are going to check their messages anyway, I'd say a HUD is safer than looking at your phone

[Silhouette]

Plus, given that many drivers are going to check their messages anyway, I'd say a HUD is safer than looking at your phone

People die because other people drive while distracted. There are no excuses for being severely and unnecessarily distracted while behind the wheel just so you can check your messages. It really is as simple as that.

The answer isn't letting people who think it's OK to drive like this be a bit less distracted with a HUD. The answer is imposing penalties equivalent to what they'd get if, say, they fired a loaded gun in a random direction from the middle of a crowded shopping mall.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

It's warranted for navigation, or possibly things like virtual mirrors. I wouldn't want to see text messages. Why not just use audio if it's so damned important to get the text?

[drbawb]

My Moto X actually attempts to figure out if you're driving, and it is capable of reading texts aloud and it even allows for reply-by-voice.

My jaw hit the floor the first time it went off. My jaw also hit the floor when it read a rather private message while I was a _passenger_ in someone else's car.

[glitch003]

It doesn't just blurt the message out, it tells you who it's from and asks if you want to hear it. At least that's how my Moto X works.

Example:

(Phone): New text message from John Smith. Would you like to hear it? (You): Yes. (Phone): "Bla bla text message contents here"

[andrewfong]

(Phone): New text message from <Name of Your Secret Paramour>. Would you like to hear it?

(Your Spouse): Yes.

[tshile]

(Your Coworkers): Yes

I think the moto x is an awesome phone but this is indeed a problem :)

[stuaxo]

Came here to say the same thing, are they joking ? This is terrible terrible terrible idea.

HUDs are a good idea, but it should be showing info about driving.

[gr3yh47]

i also have to call bs on the 2m focus. it's 2 feet, your eyes will converge at 2ft, and the road behind will become out of focus

[retroencabulato]

I can't speak for this product, but the Boeing HUDs do exactly this: to see the display clearly you need to focus at infinity. That is why they are so useful.