Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted two patents involving holographic displays for a vehicle.
Patent number 10,866,562 is for a “vehicle onboard holographic communication system” that could generate, manage, and display various three-dimensional holographic objects, holographic digital assistance, and dynamically-updatable holographic contents in automotive infotainment, vehicle control, and occupant communication environments.
The vehicle onboard holographic communication system would include a vehicle infotainment hardware module, a vehicle infotainment operating system (such as Apple’s CarPlay) and a vehicle onboard holographic communication operating system (e.g. “HoloDash OS”) executed in a CPU and a memory unit of the vehicle infotainment hardware module.
The holographic display pod would be integrated into a vehicle dashboard or another part of the vehicle interior. According to Apple, it would provids lifelike high-resolution 3D holographic objects for vehicle occupant infotainment, vehicle control, and communication applications. What’s more, the vehicle onboard holographic communication system allows in-vehicle holograms to receive and interpret driver or passenger gesture commands with embedded sensors, which enable bilaterally-interactive experiences with the in-vehicle holograms.
Patent number 10,866,414 is for a “system with holographic head-up display” that would project images onto the car’s windshield. The vehicle’s display would produces a display output allowing a viewer in the vehicle to observe two-dimensional or three-dimensional content. The head-up display may include a display unit that produces the display output and an optical combiner on a vehicle window that directs the display output towards the viewer.
As I’ve said before, I don’t believe Apple will build its own automobile. Instead, I think it will partner with current automotive manufactures to incorporate its various technologies into their vehicles.
