With Google Maps, Waze, or another map on your car's display, you can quickly see what's nearby and navigate there. You'll also get real-time alerts to help you avoid traffic. Even ask Google Assistant to find gas along the way, or quickly share your ETA with just a tap. Just say where to. And then go.
As far as our cars are concerned, we live in a world of needs vs. wants. Needs should always win out. However, as a want, the head-up display (HUD) is working its way up the list. It’s one of those features you don’t know you want until you’ve experienced it.
We’ve been fans of the HUD for over two decades now. One particularly notable appearance was in the 1999 Chevrolet Corvette, where it was a $375 option. Without really knowing much about it, nearly 20,000 Corvette buyers that year checked the HUD option box. It’s been available on the Corvette ever since.
First used on United States military aircraft in the early 1960s, head-up display technology migrated to cars in 1988, when General Motors offered it in the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Today more than 30 carmakers offer at least one model available with a HUD.
Tip: The head-up display is one of the technologies affected by the microchip shortage. Consequently, you may find difficulty finding some models with a HUD, despite it being listed as available.
The head-up display (not heads-up) is a technology that projects an image onto the vehicle’s windshield or a panel just beneath the driver’s line of sight. Although it’s an information tool, it’s equally a safety feature. It provides assorted information but doesn’t require drivers to take their eyes off the road.
Think of it as a hologram of sorts containing key data such as vehicle speed, the current speed limit, navigation instructions, and more. Often dictated by price, the amount and flexibility of the projected information will vary from carmaker to carmaker and model to model. This holds true for aftermarket head-up display solutions, as well.
Although your time behind the wheel doesn’t involve aerial combat, the HUD has served our military pilots well. It has made operating aircraft safer and more efficient. This is exactly its purpose when you are driving.
The built-in head-up displays offered by carmakers are effective and easy to use, but other examples are available. Beginning with the built-in HUD, here are your options.
As with built-in navigation systems, the in-car head-up display offered by automakers makes for tidier packaging. Integrated into the vehicle, the HUD elements are subtle, going virtually unnoticed by passengers. A small projector embedded in the top of your dashboard creates a reverse image displaying on the windshield or, in some cases, a panel on the dash. It’s the reflection of that display the driver sees.
As advancing technology and economies of scale bring down prices, expect HUD availability in more models. Costs will vary, though. The HUD is often part of an option package or included in a model’s higher grade.
When you can find it listed as a stand-alone option, expect the cost to be at least $500. For example, adding a HUD to your Lexus RX will set you back almost $700. For the Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 S Sedan, it adds at least $1,100 to the bottom line.
However, many carmakers like Mercedes-Benz and others may not offer certain features due to supply chain shortages. On its website, Mercedes-Benz says this: “Due to a worldwide shortage, semiconductor chips that are typically present in our vehicles are limited in supply. This has changed the availability of certain features. Vehicle pricing will vary and depends on the availability of certain features.”
If you want to add a head-up display on the cheap, several developers created apps. Operating similarly to the built-in head-up display, a HUD app creates the image reflected off your vehicle’s windshield. You simply tap the app and lay your phone face up on the dashboard next to the windshield.
HUD apps don’t offer the same range of functions as most built-in head-up displays, but they can provide your current speed. Some are sophisticated enough to project navigational information.
The challenge can be anchoring your smartphone to the dashboard and preventing it from sliding around on every turn.
Whether your smartphone is Apple- or Android-based, you can find free head-up display apps. Some, however, require a subscription, and others charge for extra features.
Several aftermarket suppliers offer dedicated HUD systems. These are boxlike units you can attach to your vehicle’s dashboard. They also project an image onto the windshield or onto their own small screen. Transportable among multiple vehicles, they typically plug into any 12-volt power port or OBD2 port.
Drawing on their own GPS capability or directly from your vehicle’s OBD2 port, these units can provide lots of information like vehicle speed, engine RPM, battery voltage, navigation information, and more.
For a comprehensive head-up display with smartphone control and loads of programmable information, check out the Hudway Drive at about $300. Or, if $60 better fits your budget, take a look at the Pyle PHUD12.
Prices range from $30 to $1,000 or more.
There are several factors to consider if you are actively hunting for a HUD, whether built-in, an app, or aftermarket.
As is the case for most things, with a HUD, you’ll get what you pay for. Head-up display smartphone apps are a cheap way to obtain basic functions, but they typically lack many of the features you may be considering. To gain a factory-installed head-up display in your next new vehicle, the carmaker may require you to buy more vehicle than you want. In other words, to upgrade to a trim level or option package with excess, unwanted features.
If you want more than basic functions but don’t wish to pay for more car than you need just for the head-up display, the aftermarket third-party route will be all that remains. Decide which features you want in a HUD and shop around.
Although some cars come with built-in HUD displays that are 10 inches or more, as offered in the Toyota Camry, you can get by with less.
Screen sizes average in the 5- to 6-inch range.
A head-up display app will project a display about the size of your smartphone screen. Aftermarket HUDs come in a variety of sizes, but 5 inches is about average.
If all you want to display is your current speed, a 3-inch display will work.
Although display size figures into the visibility equation, here we primarily consider the brightness and contrast of the display. To be effective, the display must be visible no matter the time of day or the amount of ambient light. Your research should include whether the HUD provides controls for brightness and contrast. Moreover, can you read the display in daylight while wearing sunglasses?
What do you want to be displayed? That’s the question you must answer. Features correspond to cost. The greater the number of features, the higher the cost.
When you buy a built-in HUD, you get what you get. Several of these in-car systems allow you to pick and choose which features to show at any given time from a menu that might include:
Head-up display apps tend to be more limited in the information displayed. Aftermarket HUD systems vary in their functions, but they can be nearly as inclusive as built-in systems.
Installation of a head-up display will not be much of a factor. In-car versions get built-in by the factory. Head-up display apps and aftermarket third-party HUDs simply rest on top of the dashboard. All that remains is powering these systems. Either a battery, your vehicle’s 12-volt power source, or your vehicle’s OBD2 port provides the power. In other words, no matter the type of HUD you pick, installation isn’t a factor.
As with any technology, there will be a learning curve in mastering a head-up display, regardless of the type. The more options a particular unit offers, the more involved it will be for setup.
For all but the simplest units, some programming will be required. However, once set up, there’s nothing else to do.
With an app or third-party unit, you will need to determine the appropriate location on your vehicle’s dashboard for your phone or the unit to maximize the field of view. Otherwise, there’s nothing to it.
Virtually any vehicle qualifies for a head-up display of some stripe. You can download a head-up display app on any smartphone. Likewise, as long as your vehicle offers a compatible power source, you should be able to find an aftermarket HUD unit.
As for built-in systems, nearly every car manufacturer makes at least one 2023 model offering a HUD. In luxury brands, it’s offered in multiple models.
More than 130 models spread across 30 carmakers offer head-up displays for 2023. However, this list continues to grow. For example, the 2023 Toyota Sequoia, Mazda CX-50, and the all-electric Genesis GV60.
Although automakers make head-up displays available across an array of models, they remain primarily in the luxury domain. Every model of BMW, Bentley, Cadillac, Land Rover, and Rolls-Royce offers a HUD.
Other premium and luxury brands like Audi, Genesis, Lincoln, Lexus, Buick, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo offer a HUD in nearly all their models. Acura, Porsche, Infiniti, and Jaguar offer a HUD in more than one model.
Lamborghini and Polestar only offer a HUD in one model.
Surprisingly, a few mainstream brands offer many models with a HUD. MINI offers it in all of its models. Among Mazda models, only the MX-5 Miata doesn’t offer a HUD. Toyota offers it in 10 models. Chevrolet, GMC, Kia, and Hyundai offer a HUD in at least four models each. Jeep has three HUD-equipped models, while Nissan has two.
Ford, Honda, and Ram make at least one model each featuring a head-up display.
As some carmakers dither over including head-up displays in more models, others are taking these displays to new heights. It’s called augmented reality head-up display. Sort of blending real-world images with virtual reality, such systems are a grander variation of HUD.
Augmented reality does more than simply project information like vehicle speed, the current speed limit, and the next navigation instruction on to the windshield. It actually manages to float the information in what appears to be 20 to 30 feet in front of the driver. For example, street names appear on the actual street. Several carmakers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz have vehicles on the street or in the pipeline offering augmented reality HUD.
One of our reviewers recently returned from driving the new Mercedes-Benz EQS with the AR HUD. Here’s how he described it: “With augmented reality, arrows and street names are superimposed on the road in front of you. Arrows can move on the road showing you what lane you need to be in, which exit to take and exactly where to turn. It adds extra convenience and peace of mind navigating to your destination.”