When it comes to automotive technology gadgets in the modern car, it’s amazing what companies, researchers, and prototyping specialists come up with. Much of this technology is borrowed from the military as legacy or transfer technologies. After the military has had it for a decade or more, they eventually allow it into the public domain. We see a lot of this, and we’re going to see more when it comes to self-driving cars. Cars that park themselves, stop themselves, drive themselves and can take over in thick fog or prevent emergencies and accidents.

Another such interesting security device would be HUD or Heads-Up Displays. This is where you see everything in the window or windshield in front of you instead of on the dashboard. All the information you need is projected, so you never have to look down. This would be especially great for people using their radios while driving, looking at their GPS, looking at their speedometer, or other things. Still, it’s somewhat of a distraction, but it’s much safer than looking down away from the road and refocusing your eyes on what’s going on outside the vehicle.

If you’re traveling 60 to 80 mph, you’ll usually cover quite a bit of ground if you look down for a few seconds and then look up again. A lot can happen at those speeds, let alone really go fast when they shouldn’t. You can obviously see the value in racing, and this could also prevent people from becoming accident-prone distracted drivers. Should the new HUD systems be placed on our modern cars for the public?

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article on January 26, 2013 titled; “Automakers are taking a serious look at head-up displays” by Chester Dawson. Well, this technology is over 3 decades old, you know, about time. I wonder if the so-called distraction will cause accidents, since many humans are not that smart, and what about older people? Will it be confusing for them and their vision of aging? It takes time to adjust the focus from near to far for the elderly.

Yeah, that makes a very good point, doesn’t it? What about the elderly who have vision problems? If they have trouble seeing up close, it may take them a while to focus on what’s on the windshield, or vice versa if they have the other problem. Yes, it’s probably better than looking inside the vehicle and looking away from what’s in front of them entirely, but this might be more than their brains can process in the amount of time needed while traveling at higher speeds. Like on the highway.

I actually hope we can figure this out and keep these cars safe for all ages using the HUD system because I think it’s safer overall. Please consider all this and think about it.