Yesterday, Pioneer Corporation and MicroVision officially announced their collaboration to develop innovative display products under a Joint Development Agreement (JDA), and the completion of a Memorandum of Understanding which establishes the framework for future manufacturing and commercial distribution.
In October of this year, Pioneer demonstrated a laser-based head-up display (HUD) prototype at CEATEC, using MicroVision’s PicoP® display engine technology. Pioneer has announced its plans to introduce a commercial laser-based in-vehicle HUD into the consumer marketing in 2012, using the light source module being developed by MicroVision and Pioneer under the JDA. Lasers have many inherent advantages for in-vehicle HUDs, which put critical information on the windshield where drivers can use it without affecting their focus on the road ahead. See the videos below to see the demo in action.
The light source module under development is based on direct red, blue, and green lasers (at least 5 companies worldwide have announced they are developing direct green lasers for late-2011 to mid-2012 commercial introduction). This module is expected to eventually replace the 3 individual laser light sources found in the current PicoP display engine. The PicoP display engine utilizing a direct green laser is expected to offer significant commercial advantages in price, size, power, and performance for automotive and consumer high-volume applications.
The next steps for MicroVision and Pioneer will include finalizing details of manufacturing and distribution, which will follow completion of the joint development work and commercial availability of direct green lasers. We are pleased to have an experienced development partner such as Pioneer to help accelerate commercialization of a next-generation PicoP display engine, while allowing both companies to reduce our respective development costs.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this blog, including those relating to future development and commercialization, commercial advantages and statements which use words such as “expects” are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the our forward-looking statments are more fully stated in the MicroVision press release.