German manufacturer Continental Engineering Services (CES) has created a head-up display (HUD) for trains which is destined for use in Europe this year.
The idea is to make intra-urban traffic safer by ensuring train drivers can give the road their full attention. In a statement on the technology, CES said this would assist in cutting the number of emergency braking manoeuvres.
The increased use of mopeds and bicycles, coupled with the public using mobile phones has led, CES says, to an increase in accidents, which includes some with trams.
The technology has already been commissioned by an undisclosed rail vehicle manufacturer.
The technology is relatively new to the sector. Dr. Christoph Falk-Gierlinger, General Manager of CES, said: “With the development of a head-up display for trams, we are taking a major step toward greater safety in urban rail transport.
“Information previously displayed on different cockpit instruments can now be placed in the driver’s field of vision via a central head-up display. Their view is not distracted from the traffic. The journey will become safer for tram drivers and passengers.”
Continental said that the technology helps a driver stay aware and cope with the ever-larger field of view out the increasingly large windows.
Projecting vital information – for example, warning signals, speed, distance to the next stop – in the driver’s direct field of vision makes driving more comfortable, CES says, resulting in greater safety. This is particularly the case because information is displayed virtually as if it were at some distance in front of the vehicle. That way, the eyes do not have to constantly refocus.
The newly developed ‘Combiner’ head-up display projects information onto an external transparent screen in the driver’s field of vision. This enables cost-effective use of the technology regardless of the respective manufacturer models – both in new vehicles and as a retrofit for existing models. Drivers are not only able to see the road and cockpit display simultaneously, the information also appears at what is perceived as the same distance. Furthermore, the bright LEDs the business has developed for HUD technology means a good quality display even in strong sunshine.
