Luminit Describes Auomotive HUDs, Engineering Challenges, and Solar Flare Solutions

At Vehicle Display Conference (VDI) 2026 in Detroit, Jonathan Waldern of Luminit, covered windshield HUD technology and broader industry trends:

Market context

The mobility market is expanding beyond traditional vehicles into eVTOLs, and the rise of autonomous vehicles (no steering wheel) is reshaping HUD design priorities — from driver-focused effects toward entertainment-oriented displays for passengers.
China’s advances in cost/engineering (e.g., mega/giga-casting) are reshaping the competitive cost landscape for automotive tech broadly.
HUD penetration is rising sharply — over 20% in China, with the West following.

On Envisics (discussed re: the Cadillac Lyriq)

Waldern declines to speculate on what went wrong there specifically, but frames it as a broader industry challenge: any specialized innovator must not only meet technical qualification but also hit cost and timing targets to scale into mainstream production — a difficult “chasm to cross” from new product introduction to sufficient production volume.
He calls Envisics’ laser-based HUD work genuinely revolutionary, and credits Cadillac/GM as consistent early movers in HUD innovation.
Luminit’s own strategy, by contrast, is to partner steadily and diversify its portfolio rather than bet on one category being “the winner,” spreading risk.

Key engineering challenge: variable/continuous virtual image distance (VID)

Current AR-HUDs are generally limited to one or two discrete image planes rather than a continuous depth plane — achieving a continuous VID (plus related eye-tracking and human-factors challenges) is described as the major unsolved engineering problem in the space, with Luminit and companies like Dispelix (referred to as “distance technology”) both working on it.
Luminit’s demo: IP HUD
A simpler holographic-reflector-based HUD (used across automotive, aviation, trains, and architectural/interior applications), shown on-site.
Luminit’s more advanced windshield-integrated HUD (using lamination/holographic integration techniques) wasn’t available to demo yet due to its development stage, but the company is starting to show it to OEMs and working on systems integration. The long-term vision: move HUDs beyond today’s “blocky” mirror-based designs by embedding wide-field-of-view optics directly into the windshield, complementing panoramic P-HUD approaches like BMW’s Panoramic Vision.

On solar flare / rainbow artifacts from holographic windshield films

Responding to a competing approach presented earlier by True Life (splitting the HUD image into physical optics for the vertical component and a horizontal-only holographic windshield display to reduce sunlight/rainbow artifacts), Waldren calls that approach well-understood and fairly straightforward.
Luminit is addressing residual flare with what it calls “multiplexed waveguides” — novel holographic structures that guide/waveguide residual light off to the side of the windshield.
He suggests a combined approach across different techniques may be ideal, and notes the whole windshield doesn’t need to be illuminated — just a wide-field-of-view zone in front of the driver (potentially expanding with greater vehicle autonomy).
Luminit is now producing prototype windshield batch runs, with major partner (tier-one) presentations expected next year showing a fuller solution.

Lamination approach

The holographic film is laminated between glass layers (not applied to the inside surface), using autoclaving lamination processes Luminit has been refining with partners in the PVB (polyvinyl butyral) film space, along with lifetime/homogenization testing. Waldern expresses confidence this lamination work won’t be a major bottleneck.

Next steps