GMC Acadia Features Jet Fighter Technology

Owners of the 2012 GMC Acadia midsize crossover can safely merge onto the highway using technology similar to what fighter pilots use to guide precise movements at supersonic speeds. The vehicle’s optional heads-up display, or HUD, was born out of aerospace research. Acadia’s HUD works by projecting information from within the dashboard, using two mirrors to reflect a crisp digital image off the windshield so that it appears to the driver to be floating in front of the vehicle’s bumper. Drivers can adjust the brightness of the image, its location on the windshield or even turn the image off altogether. “With these devices, the main benefit is seeing important information without the distraction of looking down,” said Wen Wu, a Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science researcher. “The technology is useful but challenging. The key issue is deciding what to display, where to display, when to display, and how to display,” Wu said. “A square doesn’t look like a square when projected on a curved windshield, so there is a lot of correction involved in designing these systems.” Viewable information includes speed and tachometer readings, vehicle warnings, turn signal activation, outside temperature and other vehicle and radio information. Cynthia Houeiss, lead General Motors electrical vehicle systems engineer for Acadia, said company engineers have come a long way in the integration of head’s up displays into the vehicle. “The HUD in the 2012 GMC Acadia is completely integrated into the vehicle and its styling,” she said. “It was styled as part of the instrument panel, instead of being an afterthought or add-on.” The heads-up display is part of an available technology package on the Acadia and is standard on the Acadia Denali, and will be available on the redesigned 2013 model. A technology invented for fighter jets to help pilots keep their eyes on the skies around them, HUDs were first implemented in automobiles in the late 1980s by GM. Since then, GM has been a leader in the area, with patented technology that makes the 2012 Acadia’s system an industry leader. Further advancements in head-up display technology are ongoing. General Motors R&D and several universities are working on a system that would use data gathered from an array of vehicle sensors and cameras and project images generated by compact ultra violet lasers directly onto the entire surface of the windshield. “We’re looking to create enhanced vision systems,” said Thomas Seder, group lab manager-GM R&D. “Let’s say you’re driving in fog. We could use the vehicle’s infrared cameras to identify where the edge of the road is and the lasers could ‘paint’ the edge of the road onto the windshield so the driver knows where the edge of the road is.”