Heads-up displays will be coming to every car in due time – the tech just makes sense. In the meantime, there are a number of options for retrofitting one into your existing ride, from ones that show on your rearview mirror and ones that project onto your windshield. The Exploride has to be one of the more interesting we’ve seen.
Described as “the world’s first all-in-one HUD,” it’s a transparent display that mounts on top of the dashboard, showing you pertinent information without obstructing your view of the road. That way, you can get turn-by-turn instructions, check your car’s vitals, and do a whole load of other things, all while keeping your eyes straight down the road the whole time.
The Exploride consists of a six-inch transparent display, with a custom UI that combines minimal elements and colors fine-tuned for on-road visibility, regardless of the time of day. An onboard quad-core processor, GPS, and LTE connectivity allows it to provide turn-by-turn navigation, music-streaming, WiFi hotspot, and more without having to pair with a smartphone. It can be controlled via voice commands, as well as four basic gestures (left, right, up, and down), so there’s minimal requirement to take your hand off the wheel. Each unit even includes a bundled OBD adapter, so you can use it to monitor your car’s vitals.
An integrated 3 megapixel camera allows it to record your drive in real time, so you can ditch installing a separate dash cam to keep visual records of your drives. Of course, it can also be paired with any smartphone, so you can take calls, read emails, and more without taking your eyes off the road.
An Indiegogo campaign is currently running for Exploride. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $299.