Range Rover Evoque gains world-first laser head-up display

The innovative HUD uses laser holographic techniques to project road speed, gear position, turn-by-turn navigation, traffic sign recognition, cruise control speed and status and warnings onto the Evoque’s windscreen in the driver’s field of vision.

Land Rover says its laser HUD system is “more robust against issues such as ‘washout’” that affect existing LED-based systems, and claims to offer “superior colour saturation, brightness and contrast … in a small, lightweight package”.

Land Rover programs director Murray Dietsch says the laser HUD system borrows from technology used by the military, and says it has safety benefits for Evoque drivers.

“By presenting key driver information in this way and removing the need for the driver to look away from the road ahead, HUD is an important step on the journey to delivering Land Rover’s vision of the intelligent car of the future,” Dietsch said.

The Range Rover Evoque is available to order with laser HUD in most markets now, including the UK, where it is a £1000 ($1800) option. Land Rover Australia told CarAdvice its product planning team is still evaluating the technology, but says it’s keen to offer laser HUD to local Evoque customers.

The Jaguar XE is also confirmed to feature laser HUD technology from 2015, with the rest of the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover line-up expected to follow suit in the near future.

Jaguar Land Rover previewed the technology and its potential in July when it unveiled the Virtual Windscreen. Reminiscent of a racing simulator, the concept could project racing line and braking guidance information onto the windscreen, as well as ‘ghost car’ racing mode, allowing drivers to visualise their car on previous laps or compete against laps uploaded by other drivers. This advanced technology is likely to be a long way from production, however.