Hyundai Mobis makes strategic investment in British Augmented Reality Head-Up Display firm Envisics; looks to develop autonomous driving specialised AR HUD for mass production by 2025
11 Oct 2020 | 10188 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk
Global Tier 1 automotive supplier Hyundai Mobis has made a significant investment in Envisics, a UK-based global leader in Augmented Reality Head-Up Display (AR HUD). AR HUD is a next-generation safety convenience feature that matches driving information with the road ahead in real-time and projects it onto the windshield.
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Global Tier 1 automotive supplier Hyundai Mobis has made a significant investment in Envisics, a UK-based global leader in Augmented Reality Head-Up Display (AR HUD). AR HUD is a next-generation safety convenience feature that matches driving information with the road ahead in real-time and projects it onto the windshield.
Hyundai Mobis, along with General Motors Ventures, SAIC Motors and Van Tuyl Companies, has become a shareholder of Envisics following successful completion of ~$50m series B strategic funding round
Hyundai Mobis has been making aggressive investments in autonomous driving and electrification over the last three years despite the unclear global business conditions, such as COVID-19. This demonstrates the company’s focus on actively discovering and developing next-generation components in infotainment, and in autonomous driving with Velodyne and Motional, and is complemented by the establishment of three new electrification plants in Korea.
“Hyundai Mobis will jointly develop autonomous driving specialised AR HUD with Envisics, targeting mass production by 2025,” said executive vice-president, CTO, Sung Hwan Cho said. “We will proactively present the next-generation AR HUD solutions to global automakers for increased safety and convenience to avoid distracting drivers.”
Envisics is a leading holographic technology company founded in 2010 by Dr. Jamieson Christmas from the University of Cambridge. Acknowledged as a global leader in the field of augmented reality head up displays, Envisics is the only company with experience in mass-producing HUDs based on dynamic holography.
Envisics’ patent-protected, dynamic holographic platform
Envisics is an innovative, market leader that has developed a patent-protected, dynamic holographic platform that enables true holography across multiple mobility applications. With a successful track record of commercialising its technology, Envisics has been qualifying its next generation of holographic technology for series production. This investment allows Envisics to scale its business operations globally as it meets an exponential growth in demand for its AR-HUD technology from leading automotive manufacturers. It further enables the company to accelerate the development of future holographic technologies.
Dr. Jamieson Christmas, Envisics’ founder and CEO, commented: “Enhanced in-car experience is the next automotive revolution that goes hand in hand with electrification and the development of autonomous vehicles. Our technology is class leading and is extremely well placed to meet current and future requirements.
Successfully closing this significant Series-B funding round, especially in light of the challenging business climate, is a pivotal moment for Envisics. The addition of these blue chip automotive companies to our shareholder base, will be instrumental in guiding Envisics to future success as we focus upon the commercialisation of our true holographic technology.”
Global market for AR HUD set to boom
AR HUD, which Hyundai Mobis has decided to invest in, is currently in the initial market creation stage, but is considered a major field for car infotainment that will expand competitively in the next 10 years. According to multiple global market research companies, the HUD market is expected to grow by at least 12% on average every year by 2025, and AR HUD in particular is expected to grow rapidly from the market size of a million units in 2025 to 12 million in 2030.
AR HUD can be implemented in two ways; geometrical optics and digital holography. Envisics’ digital holographic technology, utilises the most advanced hologram implementation methods providing a software defined broad field of view without the need for additional optical devices. This approach significantly reduces the volume and is thus more optimized for next-generation AR HUD.