patently Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've just seen an ad for this: http://www.navdy.com/ It's an after-market HUD (head-up display) for cars. It seems to be aimed at the US market but no doubt could be brought over here if you really wanted to. If interfaces with an iPhone or Android phone to project notifications from your phone in front of you, so you don't have to look down or take your focus off the road. Now, my old E60 BMW had a HUD and it was utterly fantastic (I miss it a lot!) and really helped you concentrate on the road. However, it only presented driving-related information such as speed, satnav instructions, cruise control data, warning messages and so on. This one handles phone calls, texts, twitter, facebook, and so on as well. That worries me a bit, it moves the device from being a support for your driving to one that brings in other distractions as well. What do we think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Personally, and I know certain members will disagree, I think it's all gone too far. When driving, your concentration should be on driving, any sort of social media, email, notifications of any kind should not be presented to the driver, be they through a HUD, or on the various screens fitted within the car. There is no (imo) valid reason for a car to be linked to Facebook/Twitter/Email etc. I find it incredibly sad that people can't be 'disconnected' for relatively short periods of time, we're talking a few hours here, no one is so important they can't drive without being on Facebook at the same time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 I also think that's a horribly ugly box to sit on the dash, and it's not really a proper HUD is it, not beaming onto the windscrwen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Looked at this gadget when they started crowd funding for its development and whilst it looked pretty good, if failed to say how it was powered. I assumed it would be a fag lighter lead so lost interest then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 You might as well do a TwinSpark and tape your fücking iPad to the windscreen. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 If youre all sitting down, im going to agree with Tipex. Too much unnecessary distraction. I have a split level dash and its all the info i need. I dont want a text message projected in front of me ffs. My phones stay in my pocket or bag whilst driving, unless i use one for nav. Even then i dislike trying to use or adjust it on the move if i need to. Thats $300 of accidents waiting to happen IMHO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-bmw Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THIS IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE DRIVER OF A VEHICLE, END OF STORY. If you are driving that is the singularly most important thing you are doing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 You might as well do a TwinSpark and tape your fücking iPad to the windscreen. When I was at Brands Hatch last week (some chavy car meet!) a guy had exactly that. No idea how he didn't get pulled .... along with all the other offences on the cars there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooH Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 Broadly I agree with Tipex, do you have your phone handsfree in the car? Mines all linked in and my texts get read out to me and I can respond verbally and I don't mind that too much but agree on things getting projected and distracting you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted October 13, 2014 Report Share Posted October 13, 2014 I know many here are on their high horse / shoot to kill end of this device but it might have its merits for some use cases. Personally one of the worse things I see are people who are lost and aren't concentrating on driving and just on where they are going. At least this device is out of sight, some people seem to use their 7" Tomtom slap bang in the middle of the screen creating a rather large blind spot for kids and other pedestrians. If this device removes some of the issues that creates and removing some of the other 'benefits' of the getting facebook for a moment then again it does have benefits. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) If you go back in time you would find that, if you really want to advocate nothing but concentrating on driving, you'd be removing all manner of devices from a car. Radio's or any audio devices, let's ban them. SatNav, let's ban that. Any communication device, phones, pagers (thinking back), etc, let's ban those from going into cars. My point is that it doesn't matter what is fitted to a car. It isn't a distraction unless the driver chooses to drive irresponsibly. HUD does the opposite from distracting a driver. It prevents eye movement in a way that it can be dangerous, so quite how something like HUD would be a danger is beyond me. I have all of the stuff that is mentioned earlier in this thread (barring HUD actually). Facebook, Twitter, email, calendar funcitonality, all manner of apps, stuff that tells clients where I am en route to them, estimated times of arrival and god knows what else. It even talks to me as I drive a route and tells me about the local area (Wiki Tour). It'll even tell my Facebook friends what track I'm listening to, or where I'm heading to and how long it'll take me. I use that occasionally because it annoys the life out them. But.... It is my responsibility to judge when it is safe to use all of the above. Last night I drove from Stevenage to Newcastle in torrential rain for 150 miles of the journey. I didn't have the radio/music on. I didn't use any of the above. The reason was that it would been lunacy to attempt to do so. Personal responsibility is key. My cars MFD is the best feature I've ever seen on a car. It transforms the car and has saved me missing junctions and provides all manner of information to me - but only when I need it. Without it I have no doubt whatsoever my driving experience would be ever so slightly less safe. It doesn't reduce my personal responsibility though, but it is a driving aid that has real value. It isn't a problem to have any of these devices or features. Install what you want in a car or spec whatever options you want. Just use them responsibly. It is all well and good to criticise manufacturers for putting tech like this into cars, or third parties for making add-ons, but it is absolutely no different from saying that you shouldn't drink, smoke or jump off cliffs. It is all about common sense. Edited October 14, 2014 by NewNiceMrMe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Oh and by the way, I'd never seen Navdy before. But I've just pre-ordered one. Even if I don't use it, MrsMe will because her X6 is lacking some of the new tech my car has. I think that looks bloody fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted October 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 Interesting set of responses. I think the HUD aspect of the device is fantastic. I really miss the one from my E60 - it was a huge help and did mean that you focused more on the road than elsewhere. I'm not sure about piping social media to it, though. I don't see why that's needed, and there is precedent for banning distracting stuff (such as TV screens in the driver's view). In the end, though, the driver needs to take responsibility. If they're willing to be distracted, then there will always be something else they can look at instead of the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted October 14, 2014 Report Share Posted October 14, 2014 I'm a libertarian at heart. Banning something because stupid people can't use it safely goes against every fabric of my being. I might want to use such a device for pertinent reasons such as those MrMe mentions. I don't want that choice taken away because some brain dead social media slave can't understand that seeing a picture of someone's baby/kitten/dinner isn't pertinent at 70mph on a dark, wet, busy motorway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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