This isn’t your typical car HUD: check out the Hyundai Mobis holographic windshield display

CNET’s Bridget Carey takes a look at Hyundai Mobis’ new holographic window display at CES 2025

One of the biggest problems with having lots of screens in your car is that they distract you while you’re driving. Well, I’m trying out a concept car from Hyundai Mobis that uses novel technology to put everything on the windshield. This is not your typical HUD. It uses projectors to show me information and the passenger can’t see these things and I can’t see what the passenger sees. This little demonstration here at CES. I kind of show myself seeing my MPH floating in front of me here. If I move my head it’s gone. It’s kind of like a weird little magical effect because what it does is project the image onto a special film here and what makes it unique compared to other things is that it controls the light in different ways. For example, if you drive into the sun and it is very bright, it will not be affected. I can’t test this here, but this is how they explain it. For me, technology. OK, now I can see how fast I’m going, what the speed limit is. I get directions there and can sort of tell you what music I’m listening to. I can add more if I want. I can set the weather, but when I change lanes, I see different mirrors. Oh, look, right there I can see who’s coming towards me on my left, what’s on my right, and I can kind of get a different field of view than the cameras that are around the car if you want navigation . You can also have these services projected so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road if you need some sort of mapping system to help you see where you’re going on your journey. It’s all just layered on top of everything else. I’m not really going to change my focus that much. I mean, in this example I’m watching a TV screen, obviously I’m not actually driving, but I’m looking forward and just moving my gaze down ever so slightly and not looking wildly around the car or turning my head. Too much to be able to see where I’m going, so there are some interesting security features here. I’m not a big fan of too many screens in a car. I think they’re distracting. So this is a step in a good direction. What’s also interesting is that the passenger can’t see how fast I’m driving. If you’ve ever been a passenger and wanted to watch what the driver is doing, you can’t do that in this concept because there’s nothing to see on the dashboard. It’s all just mine. Little secret here. While I concentrate on the road, the passenger can watch films or play games, for example. We saw an example where someone played the game via an app connection on their phone so they could do whatever they wanted, and I’ll never know. With this SOIS concept, they have other options to take the technology to another level. Let’s say I’m feeling a little stressed or maybe someone gets sleepy on the go. Well, they have other types of technology that they can use to hook into your brainwaves and say, “Hey, if I’m a little stressed or a little sleepy, maybe this display will tell me something that will help me wake up, or they can.” Even adjust the lighting or the vibration and warmth of my seat or the music so I can be more focused and less stressed. Another thing you might not be able to tell from just watching at home is that this is the case. The screen on which it is projected is up to 95% transparent. You know, I don’t have to have it all on, you know, but I can still see through it completely. I’m just looking down the street. I see the zebra crossing. I see the dotted lines. It’s not like a computer screen that takes up everything. I know it’s just a concept, but as someone who doesn’t buy cars with screens, guess what? I can understand that. Let me know what you think. Thanks for watching.